Welcome to the Birthday Massacre
by Midori12
Summary: Platinum's throwing one of the Pokédex Holders a birthday party at her mansion. But little do they know that there are two amongst their supposedly happy group that wish to murder them all... - Mangaverse; Based on the song Happy Birthday - The Birthday Massacre; Character Death. COMPLETE!
1. Platinum and the Huge Mansion

**Time for my next horror story. This outta be interesting. **

**This story is based off of the song "Happy Birthday" by Birthday Massacre. Lyrically, the song's pretty short, but I had an awesome idea I could use for a fanfiction. Now, it took me forever to figure out whether I wanted it to be a long one-shot or a multi-chapter story, but I finally figured it out. So let's hope I made the right choice.**

* * *

**Chapter One: Platinum and the Huge Mansion**

I sat in fear as I stared down the bloody knife in front of me, the nasty smirks on their faces sending terrible shivers down my spine. My blood was running cold. I could hardly even tell there were tears streaming down my face, trickling over the blood splattered on my cheeks.

It wasn't even my blood. It was the blood of the person who had just tried to save me from these two.

I was now the only survivor. They had killed everyone else in the mansion.

I couldn't wrap my head around how any of this could have happened. Was this all just some horrible nightmare? I wanted to believe that. Oh, how I wanted to believe that.

I had just watched my best friend get murdered right in front of me. The rest of my friends' bodies were scattered all over the mansion.

And these two…who I _thought _were my friends…had slaughtered them all. And for what? Was there even a reason for any of this?

"W-why…" I barely managed to speak. "Why did…you do…this…?"

One of their smirks had only gotten wider. If they were going to kill me, there probably was no reason for them to even tell me why they had done the awful things they had done tonight…if it was even still nighttime, I didn't know.

But one of them decided to speak up. "Would you really like to know? Why don't I tell you…"

I sat in horror and confusion as I listened to their explanation. After awhile of not really wanting to comprehend any of it anymore, I decided to remember all of the night's events that led up to this horrible tragedy…

* * *

"Wow, _this _is Platinum's house?" Bianca gasped, gazing in awe at the huge mansion in front of her. "This is incredible!"

"Bianca, this is a mansion, not a house," Cheren snidely corrected.

"Shut up!" Bianca flailed her arms. "You know what I meant! It's all the same!"

"Technically, it's not. A house is a—Ouch!" Cheren cried out after being smacked by Bianca's purse.

White giggled behind them. "You guys are silly."

"Gosh, I hope I'm not underdressed…" Bianca said as she glanced at her long orange and white dress with a pink flower clipped above her left breast.

"You look fine, Bianca!" White assured her, straightening out her black miniskirt and buttoning the top button on her white polo shirt. "You look fancier than I do."

"I don't think Ms. Berlitz will mind," Cheren said in his dark blue tuxedo and pink tie. "If Diamond and Pearl are her best friends, I think we're okay."

"Yeah, that's right!" Black said in a very loud tone, wiping some hair off of his black tuxedo and white tie. "We'll be fine!" Black slapped a hand on Bianca's shoulder.

"Well, one thing you might want to do, Black, is tone down that obnoxious tone of yours," Cheren pushed the bridge of his glasses up to the top of his nose. "She might not appreciate your loud rambling."

"But Pearl's pretty loud, isn't he?" Bianca asked.

"And Bianca, you might want to be careful about where you walk," Cheren warned. "Don't want to trip and break anything in here."

"Cheren! Can we do anything else to please you?" Black and Bianca said in unison. White continued giggling while Cheren sighed.

"We're here for a birthday party, Cheren," White chuckled. "Lighten up!"

"Can we go inside yet?" Bianca shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "It's cold out here."

"Sure, let's go!" Black charged ahead of the group, eager to check out the inside of this mansion. He couldn't believe that he was friends with the richest person in Sinnoh. Now he was being invited to her house—correction, _mansion_—for a birthday party. Way cool.

But little did he know that this could have been the last night of his life…

* * *

"Emerald, look out!" Crystal yelled, reaching her hand out in a poor effort to prevent the smaller kid from crashing into the glass case behind him.

"Whoa!" Emerald spun around quickly, catching himself before he hit the case full of antiques. "I'm fine!"

"Emerald, please, be careful!" Crystal began to scold him. "Platinum was nice enough to invite us to her mansion! The least you could do is try to be courteous of her property!"

"Sorry," Emerald scratched the back of his head, looking down in shame.

"C'mon, let's go back to the living room." Crystal said, directing him to the large, spacious room where most of the other guests were currently chatting together.

Crystal glanced around the room, beginning to count who all was here but gave up when she realized that there were a few people missing. Red, Green, Yellow and Bill were conversing happily (besides Green, who apparently felt like he was too cool to smile) near the fireplace. Her younger sister, Lyra, was playing cards with Sapphire, Pearl, and White. Black and Cheren were watching over them, Cheren helping Lyra out since she wasn't too familiar with the game.

Noticing everyone's wardrobes, Red and Green were wearing suits the colors of their namesakes. Yellow wore a long black and white dress with a yellow flower in her hair. Bill was nearly wearing the same tuxedo as Black, white tie included. Sapphire was actually in a nice dark blue minidress that Crystal assumed Ruby somehow managed to get her in. Pearl was wearing the same white tuxedo he had worn in his first Pokemon Contest. Emerald was wearing a dark green blazer that was much to big for him and his usual pants. Lyra was wearing a short dress very similar to Crystal's, only hers was red and blue while Crystal's was black and yellow.

"Blue, Gold, Silver, Ruby, Wally, Diamond, Platinum, and Bianca aren't here." Crystal said.

"Diamond, Platinum, and Bianca are," Emerald corrected her. "Diamond's helping cook the meals and Bianca's in the bathroom. I'm sure Platinum is somewhere around here getting ready."

Crystal gave Emerald a funny look. "I'm disturbed that you knew that Bianca was in the bathroom…"

"Hey, Crystal!" Yellow called out to her, waving. "Hi, Emerald!"

Crystal decided to join the Kanto group in conversation while Emerald randomly jumped onto Sapphire's back, causing her cards to go flying and everyone to burst out laughing, save for Cheren who just looked annoyed.

Lyra stood up and walked over to the large window in the room. "It's snowing outside!"

A few people in the room smiled at the announcement of snow. Pearl and Emerald jumped up and ran over to the window, plastering their faces on the cold, glass surface. Then they noticed a group of people walking up to the mansion.

"Hey, the rest of the group's here!" Pearl shouted, causing everyone to scramble to the door to greet them.

"Welcome to the Berlitz mansion!" Pearl threw the door opened and yelled. "Man, the temperature dropped _fast_! It's freezing out here! Blue, you have to be freezing your ass off!"

Blue was walking alongside Silver and Gold, while Ruby was holding onto Wally's hand, probably to make sure that if the latter was about to collapse, Ruby could catch him. "It's a little chilly," the Evolver wore a very short, tight black and white dress and a black jacket to cover her bare arms. Gold and Silver wore suits that matched their namesakes as well, only Gold was wearing black pants. "But I'm fine. I'm gonna be in the mansion. We're not partying outside, are we?"

"No, we are not," Platinum came up behind Pearl out of nowhere, causing him to jump. "Welcome Blue, Gold, Silver, Ruby, and Wally."

"Hey," Wally said before coughing into his green blazer. Ruby, in a dark red suit, patted his back.

"Is there somewhere Wally can rest? He's kinda tired," Ruby asked Platinum politely.

"Yes. Sapphire has already informed me of Wally's illness." Platinum said. "We have a room set up specifically for him and a nurse on standby shall he need one. Right this way." Everyone moved out of the way to allow Ruby and Wally to proceed up the stairs and into the mansion to follow Platinum.

"Let's go back to the living room and wait for Platinum to return," White said, and everyone agreed. They filed into the living room and waited.

"I'm gonna go check on Wally," Sapphire excused herself from the room.

"I hope Wally will be okay for later," Yellow sounded very concerned. "I wouldn't like for him to miss the party."

"At least he made it here," Bill told Yellow. "I reckon he'll be fine wit' a lil' rest!"

"Yeah, Wally'll be okay," Emerald reassured the Healer.

Yellow nodded. "Great!"

"Yah!" Diamond randomly barged into the room, hoping to scare someone. He succeeded in making Yellow, Lyra, and Bianca jump. "Hey guys," he said, fixing the chef hat that was much too big for his head. "Dinner's ready. The butlers are setting the table now."

"Ruby, Sapphire, and Platinum are busy helping Wally out, but we might as well get settled into the dining room." Green said.

They group spent the next few minutes pouring into the spacious and luxurious dining room. There was another fireplace on the left wall and a long, wide window lining up the entire right wall. The dinner table was incredibly long and could probably fit up to thirty people, plenty of room for all of the Pokedex Holders and then some. Everyone found a seat up toward the front of the room, leaving the back seats empty so that they weren't so spread apart.

The butlers had been placing plates of food all along the table. Many in the group were gazing at the food in awe, surprised at how delicious it all looked. They couldn't wait to begin eating! Especially Gold and Emerald, who tried to reach for whatever was in front of them before Crystal smacked them both.

"I'm surprised Diamond isn't trying to attack the food," Pearl poked fun at his best friend.

"That's because I've been eating as I was cooking." Diamond smiled as Pearl rolled his eyes. "I could still go for more, but I can wait."

A few minutes later, Ruby, Sapphire, and Platinum entered the room.

"Sorry about that," Platinum said. "Ruby insisted on staying with Wally, but Wally said he just needed a little rest and did not want Ruby to miss out on the festivities. We decided to leave him with the nurse and will check up on him later. For now, it seems that dinner is ready, so we shall eat. I am sure you guys are hungry, and Diamond and my chefs have provided a wonderful meal, I hope you will enjoy.

"But before that, I believe we shall address the reason we are here," Platinum continued. "Tonight is a very special person's birthday, and tomorrow is a very special holiday. We are all here to celebrate these together, with permission of the birthday boy."

"Woo-hoo!" Gold randomly cheered, causing Silver and Crystal to sigh at him. Some of the girls giggled at his obnoxious behavior.

"See, I'm not _that _bad!" Black said to Cheren in an in-your-face sort of manner, and Cheren facepalmed.

"Would the birthday boy like to sit at the front of the table?" Platinum asked. Everyone at the table turned their attention to a certain red-haired Exchanger. He sighed.

"I guess I do have all of the attention tonight, don't I?"

The Exchanger stood up and made his way to the end of the table, when everyone began clapping. He sighed again as he sat down.

"Shall we all say it together?" Gold whispered, trying to be conspicuous but everyone could hear him. The Exchanger knew that was the intention and braced himself for what came next.

"One…two…three!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SILVER!"

* * *

**I tried not to reveal whose birthday it was so soon, and there's a reason for that. But whatever, I guess it's not that big a deal…**

**Maybe.**

**So, what'd you think? Obviously nothing too terrible has happened yet. Besides the very beginning. Yeah…**

**Well, this is my first multi-chapter horror story. Let me know your thoughts! :D**

**~Midori**

**P.S. Normally, I don't like the idea of including Lyra in the world of Pokemon Special since…she's not supposed to be there, but for the sake of the song her presence was necessary. Not that I don't like Lyra, I just don't like mixing up canons. I say that, and yet most of my Pokemon stories involve all canons together…**


	2. Crystal and the Odd Feeling

**Time for another chapter! Am I prepared to kill someone off yet?**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Crystal and the Odd Feeling**

After everyone had their fill of dinner (it was kind of surprising that there was any food left, considering how many plates some of the boys had), the group decided to gather in the main room, where a giant Christmas tree stood. It was covered in all kinds of flashy lights and decorations that had to have taken multiple people hours to set up. There was an astounding amount of presents under the tree, which caused many to gasp.

"My word, Platinum!" Red gaped at the presents. "How many people do you know?"

"My father knows quite a lot of people," Platinum answered. "But so do I. All of you guys."

"These presents are for us?" Gold pointed to himself.

"Some of them. But remember, it's not Christmas yet. Tonight is Silver's night. It is his birthday, after all."

"Yeah, Gold," Lyra nudged his shoulder.

"Well, it's not my fault his birthday is the freaking day before Christmas!" Gold yelled.

"Sorry to inconvenience you, Gold," Silver replied sourly.

"Oh, it's no problem, Silver!" Gold remarked sarcastically. "Only that—Oww!" Crystal punched him. "Super Serious Girl! That was not necessary!"

"It sure was!" Crystal retorted. "Now will you shut up so that Silver can open his presents!"

"Before we do all of that, do you mind if you show us our rooms, Platinum?" White asked politely. "The butlers took our stuff, but I just wanted to know, just in case I needed to get something."

"Sure," Platinum nodded. "Silver, you don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not," Silver said. "I was actually wondering where all of our stuff went, as well."

"All right, I'll get some butlers to show you guys around. I paired two to a room, with the exception of Red, Green, and Bill and Crystal, Lyra, and Sapphire. I hope that is okay."

Each pair was assigned to a different butler and taken to different areas of the mansion. Red, Green, and Bill were paired together on the second floor near the north stairwell, with Blue and Yellow's room being next to theirs. Gold and Silver were on the second floor as well, but were on the other side near the south stairwell. Crystal, Lyra, and Sapphire's room was next to Gold and Silver's room.

Diamond and Pearl were assigned to the room next to the north stairwell on the third floor. Ruby and Emerald's room was right next to them. Near the south stairwell on the same floor were the Isshu foursome's rooms, with Black and Cheren's room being directly next to the stairs and White and Bianca's room adjacent to them.

"Wally was originally assigned to stay in your room, Ruby and Emerald, but it might be best if he stays with the nurse." Platinum explained.

"I understand," Ruby said. "Do you mind if I bring him some food? He might be hungry."

"That's okay, I already ordered for a butler to bring him some food when we finished up with dinner." Platinum explained.

"Oh, thanks." Ruby smiled. "If you don't mind, I'd like to check up on him."

"Sure thing," Platinum said.

"Maybe he'll be okay to join us for watching Silver open presents." Ruby said, waving a hand before going to Wally's room.

Platinum returned to the main room to notice that only Diamond, Pearl, and Emerald were in the room. Everyone else must have still been checking out their rooms.

Slowly, people began returning to the main room. The pigtail sisters were first, followed by Black and Cheren. Red, Green, and Bill were next, and then White and Bianca.

After about twenty minutes, no one else had shown up.

"Where is everyone else?" Pearl asked, impatiently. "Birthday boy is still missing."

"I only know where Sapphire went," Crystal said. "She went to go visit Wally in his room. I'm not sure where the others are."

Yellow then walked into the room, wiping her hands on a handkerchief. "Sorry I'm late."

"Yellow!" Bill said. "Where's Blue an' them Johto boys?"

"They're not back yet?" Yellow blinked. "I just went to the bathroom. I told Blue to meet me down here. I'm not sure where Gold and Silver are."

"That's weird," Diamond said. "Maybe they got lost."

"I could see Gold doing that…" Crystal sighed.

Just then, Blue, Gold, and Silver entered the room.

"Arceus, about time!" Red joked.

"Yeah, Gold!" Lyra made a face like she was very angry with only him, and Crystal started giggling. "Nice of you to hold all of us up! I'm sure you're the one who got you guys lost!"

Gold didn't respond, only staring straight ahead. Crystal stopped laughing.

"Gold? What's wrong with you? You look like you've just seen a ghost!" Crystal walked over to him.

"I think he got sick or something," Blue said. "He was in the bathroom for awhile."

"Do you just want to stay in your room?" Platinum asked. Gold slowly shook his head. Crystal decided to help sit him on the large couch against the wall opposite the Christmas tree.

"Takashi," Platinum addressed one of the butlers stationed near the doorway. "Could you get Gold a glass of water?"

"Sure thing, Ms. Berlitz." The butler bowed before taking off toward the kitchen.

Cheren cleared his throat. "Should we proceed with Silver opening his presents?"

Silver nodded. "Sure."

The Exchanger spent the next half an hour slowly opening his birthday presents, not changing his expression too much as he received an array of gifts, but thanked everyone nonetheless.

Gold had drank half of the ice cold water the butler had gotten for him and was laying on the couch, holding his sweaty forehead with his eyes wide open. Crystal would have just thought that maybe he ate too much, but why did he continue to stare at nothing instead of just rest?

Neither Ruby nor Sapphire had returned, either.

* * *

"Something's wrong."

It was getting close to midnight. Everyone was beginning to get tired and progressively excusing themselves from the room. Red, Bill, and Silver left first, with a bunch of butlers helping carry all of Silver's presents to his room, followed by Diamond and Pearl. Emerald had told the group he was going to check on Wally, Ruby, and Sapphire but didn't know where the room was. Platinum had a butler escort him to the room. The Isshu girls and Black left together, with Yellow and Blue leaving right after them.

The remaining in the group—Green, Gold, Crystal, Lyra, Platinum, and Cheren—were left to converse, save for Gold who still wasn't talking for some reason. His eyes had finally closed, though, but he was drenched in his sweat.

Crystal had spoken up her thoughts about feeling that something was wrong.

Green and Cheren had nodded their heads. "Gold didn't really seem like he was sick," Cheren said. "He seemed like he was shocked about something. Very shocked."

"Yeah," Crystal said. "I've taken care of him before when was sick. He's never acted like this before."

"I was just joking about him being lost," Lyra frowned. "I wonder what took them so long to come downstairs?"

"That's what I'm wondering," Green said. "I think something's up."

"Like what?" Platinum asked.

"I'm not sure," Crystal said. "I just got a bad feeling about something."

_Bzztt! _Crystal's cell phone suddenly began buzzing.

"Who's calling me?" she asked aloud as she glanced at the caller ID. She answered the phone. "Emerald? Why are you calling me?"

"_Kris, I think we have a problem…_" Crystal was surprised by Emerald worried tone of voice.

"Emerald, what's wrong?" At these words, Cheren and Green leaned in to try to hear into the phone.

"_When I arrived at Wally's room, only Ruby was in here. I asked where Sapphire was, and he said he didn't know and that he hadn't seen Sapphire since he's been here._"

"What?" Crystal, Green, and Cheren all gasped at the same time. "Is Ruby still there?"

"_No, he left as soon as I told him that none of us had seen her and that she was supposed to be checking in on Wally._"

"Okay, I'm gonna go look for her. Stay in Wally's room, Emerald. I mean it." Crystal hung up. "Did you catch that?"

"No?" Lyra raised an eyebrow, not catching what was going on.

"Sapphire's missing," Green said.

"What?" Lyra and Platinum gasped at the same time.

"Ruby's looking for her now, but I'm going to help him." Crystal said, standing up.

"Us, too." Cheren said as he and Green both stood up as well.

"We'll watch over Gold," Platinum said. "I'm going to assign some butlers to help you look. This mansion is pretty big. She could be anywhere."

"Thanks," Crystal nodded to her. "Let's go!"

Crystal, Green, and Cheren headed for the north stairwell since it was closer and stopped off on the second floor.

"Where are we going?" Cheren asked as they continued running down the hallway.

"Going to my room," Crystal said. "Sapphire was assigned to Lyra and I's room! When we were leaving the room, Sapphire told us not to wait up because she was going to stop by Wally's room first!"

The trio stopped in front of Crystal, Lyra, and Sapphire's room. The door was closed.

"She might be in here," the Catcher took a deep breath. For some reason, her heart was pounding. She felt something in the pit of her stomach, and she was sure it wasn't her dinner.

She knocked on the door. "Sapphire? Are you in there?"

No response.

"Sapphire?" Crystal decided to slowly turn the doorknob and open the door.

She instantly regretted it once she saw what was inside.

On the floor, face down, lay Sapphire. Her dark blue dress was covered in blood, the back of it completely torn to show a huge gash.

Cheren and Green immediately flew to Sapphire's side, Cheren picking up her left arm and checking for a pulse. His face tightened and he set down the girl's arm carefully.

"N-no good…" he said, sounding pained. "Sapphire's dead."

Crystal was shivering uncontrollably, her legs giving out on her. Now that feeling in the pit of her stomach was surely her dinner, ready to exit her body prematurely through her mouth.

* * *

**Well, one character's dead. **

**I hope this doesn't feel too much like the typical "get trapped in a huge house, everyone gets murdered one by one" scenario. 'Cause it probably will. Sadly.**

**Trying to put the lyrics into this fic is difficult, I'll tell you what, since the story is a lot longer than the lyrics. Plus, the way things happen kinda throws the lyrics all over the place and gives some things away. So, I decided to not put the lyrics in the fic (which I always do when I write a song-fic). If you want to check out the song yourself, I recommend you do, cause it's awesome.**

**~Midori**


	3. Gold and the Terrifying Secret

**Chapter Three: Gold and the Terrifying Secret**

Ruby was running around frantically, hoping to locate Sapphire quickly. The second he was questioned by Emerald for her whereabouts he knew something was wrong. It had been too long since anyone had seen her. She wasn't the type to get lost. Even if something as big as this mansion was throwing her off, it still wouldn't take _that _long of a time for her to find the stairs and navigate her way back to the living room. The top two floors even looked exactly the same!

Ruby remembered that Sapphire shared a room with Crystal and Lyra near the south staircase on the second floor. He had ascended the south staircase from the first floor and when he reached the top of the stairs, he heard an awful sound. Was somebody…vomiting?

He glanced over and began walking down the dark hallway until the vomiting noise got louder. He finally saw a light to a room get turned on, revealing Cheren standing outside the room holding a wastebasket for Crystal to puke in.

"Oh my Arceus!" Ruby rushed to the blunette's side, kneeling down to rub her back. "Is she okay?"

"Ruby…" Cheren said in a pained tone. "You might not want to—"

"Cheren? Is someone there?" Ruby heard Green call out from inside the room.

"Green?" the red-eyed boy spoke up in confusion, choosing to peek inside the room to figure out what he was doing.

"No, Ruby, don't—" the spectacled boy yelled out, but it was too late. Ruby's eyes widened in horror at the sight before him.

Before he could even get a glance at her dark brown hair, he immediately recognized the dress the color of her namesake that he had made for her cut up and covered in blood.

Her blood.

* * *

"S-Sapphire's dead?" Lyra shrieked, causing everyone in the room to gasp and some covering their faces in horror.

Green had sent a mass text out to everyone to meet in the main room. Cheren had contacted Platinum ahead of time to warn her of what had happened and to send some butlers up to guard the door. No one was assigned to clean up the mess until the police arrived.

Cheren had helped Crystal downstairs, carrying the wastebasket with him. White was now rubbing her back while Blue was holding a glass of water for her. Ruby had demanded to stay by Sapphire's side, but Green refused. Green spent several minutes trying to convince him to come downstairs and that him staying next to her dead body wasn't going to fix anything. He had finally mutely nodded in agreement. Ruby was now just staring blankly at the wall, Yellow choosing to sit solemnly next to him so that he wasn't alone. Gold woke up from napping when he heard all of the commotion of everyone returning to the room, and had the same expression on his face as he did before he fell asleep: panicked.

"I-I can't believe someone's dead…" Bianca said, trying not to cry. Black was holding onto her shoulders.

"And you said she…was struck from behind?" Pearl asked. "Struck, as in…?"

"A knife," Green answered. "Or some sharp object. Her back was cut and she bled out."

"Oh my—!" Blue covered her mouth, not taking to the details very well. Others flinched at the description.

"So she was murdered," Red concluded. "She obviously couldn't have done that to herself." Everyone glanced around awkwardly, not sure how to respond.

"That means…that someone in this mansion had to have done it…" Diamond took his hat off and gripped it tightly.

"Are you sure it someone didn't break in?" Yellow tried asking.

Green shook his head. "Nothing in the room was broken or missing, as far as I could tell. But the room wasn't locked, so…"

"Platinum, do you have any surveillance cameras by any chance?" Cheren asked.

"I do not," Platinum answered, but was staring intently at her cell phone. Her brows were furrowed in what looked like frustration. "I cannot get ahold of Looker."

"Huh?" Pearl looked over her shoulder at her phone. "You can't?"

"No," Platinum began punching in another number. "I'll try calling the police station."

"Maybe there's a possibility that someone from outside was able to get in elsewhere and killed Sapphire!" Lyra said.

"All of the windows and doors are locked up tight," Platinum said, still waiting for someone to pick up on the other end of the phone. "And they're all made of very thick materials so that it's hard for intruders to break in, even if they're using Pokemon."

"Plus, like I said, I couldn't find anything missing when I inspected the room, and it didn't look as if anything and been messed with," Green explained. "In fact, nothing in the room had really even been touched." He turned to Lyra. "All you guys did was check out your room and come back downstairs, right?"

"Y-yes…" Lyra sniffled, wiping up tears from her cheeks. "The three of us had made sure all of our things were there, and Crystal and I were getting ready to go back downstairs to the living room. We were gonna wait for Sapphire, but she told us to go on ahead because she was going to go to Wally's room. She was just brushing her hair first. So Crystal and I left and then…" Lyra began crying again. "I-if we hadn't have left her…"

"Lyra…" Silver placed his hand on top of hers. "Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault."

"But that means that Crystal and Lyra were the last ones to see Sapphire…" White said.

"W-what are you saying?" Lyra nearly shouted at White. The Isshu native held her hands up defensively.

"I-I'm not implying that you did anything, I was just pointing it out!" White defended herself.

"Well, besides the murderer…" Pearl pointed out.

"Tch!" Platinum slammed her phone shut, causing everyone to turn toward her. "I can't get ahold of anyone!"

"That ain't right," Bill said. "How come they ain't answerin' their phones?"

"That is rather unusual," Cheren said. "How many times did you try calling?"

"I called Looker four times and the police station three!" Platinum said, obvious frustration in her voice. "It rang and rang and rang forever, but no one picked up!"

"Well, what do we do now?" Black asked in a decent tone.

"The only thing I can think of is for everyone to just return to their rooms and lock the doors," Silver inputted. "Crystal and Lyra should room with Blue and Yellow."

"I'm a little worried about separating everyone," Green said. "But if we stay in at least a group of two, we should be okay."

"Yeah," Diamond agreed.

"I'm still worried about not being able to get ahold of the police," Pearl mentioned.

"I'll keep trying," Platinum said.

The group all said their good nights, hoping to get the death of Sapphire off of their mind, at least for now. It wasn't going to help if everyone stayed in a state of panic and couldn't get any sleep.

After most of the people left the room, Cheren observed that Green, Gold, Crystal, Lyra, Ruby, and Platinum were still left. He had told Black to go ahead and stay with White and Bianca until he went upstairs.

Gold and Ruby still weren't in much of a state to move. Crystal still felt a little sick, but Lyra promised that once they made it to Blue and Yellow's room that she could rest. But that hadn't been what the blunette was worried about.

"Gold's still acting strange…" she said wearily.

Cheren and Green had noticed that as well. It was understandable for Ruby to be in his condition after seeing his closest friend dead in front of him, but Gold had been wide eyed and silent ever since returning from first checking out his room. Extremely unusual behavior, considering how hyperactive he normally was. Even if he had eaten too much at dinner, it still didn't make any sense for him to be acting this way.

"Gold…" Crystal spoke softly, still weak from all the vomiting she had done earlier. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong, Gold?"

Gold glanced over at her, which actually startled her. He opened his mouth slowly to speak, but then quickly closed it and turned away.

"Gold?" Lyra now spoke up. "What is it? Tell us!"

Gold began shivering. "I-I can't…"

Cheren wanted to say something, but didn't want to interrupt the girls. The pigtail sisters knew Gold best, so it was probably easier for him to talk to them rather than anyone else.

"Please, Gold…" Crystal pleaded.

"…I-I know…I know…"

"Know?" the brown-haired pigtail sister questioned. "Know what?"

"…I saw…"

"Saw?"

Cheren and Green gasped. "Saw?" Green spoke up. "Saw who murdered Sapphire?"

Before Gold could respond, Ruby gasped loudly. "E-Emerald and Wally!" He suddenly shouted, rising up off the couch and rushing out of the room.

"W-wait, Ruby!" Cheren shouted, running after the boy. The room was only just down the hall, and when they arrived someone was already outside the door. "Y-Yellow?"

The blonde girl turned her head at the approaching boys. "Ruby! Cheren!" she exclaimed. "What's up? I wanted to come and visit Wally."

"Why are you by yourself?" Cheren asked.

"Well, I was walking down here with Blue, but she said she suddenly had to use the bathroom and to just meet her down here." Yellow explained.

"M-move, please!" Ruby said impatiently, nudging Yellow aside to enter the room. A moment after entering the room, he suddenly fell to his knees and began shaking. Cheren rushed in behind him, followed by Yellow. Yellow gasped before screaming loudly.

There was blood plastered all over the room. The only three occupants of the room were covered in it. The nurse was lying on her back, a huge stab wound on her stomach. Emerald was face down, just like Sapphire had been, with a huge gash in his back. Wally was in the same position he had been in since arriving in this room, lying on his back in the bed with blood all over his face. There was no sign of him being stabbed, but it was hard to tell with the bloody blanket covering him.

"O-oh my…Arceus…" Ruby barely managed to say, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably. "All of my…friends…Sapphire…Emerald…Wally…"

Suddenly, the three that had just walked in jumped at the sound of shuffling. They all stared in shock when Wally sat up and rubbed his eyes, unknowingly smearing the blood on his cheeks. "Ruby? What's wrong?"

* * *

**WALLY'S ALIVE! …Wait, Wally's alive?**

**Wait, only two people dead and they're both from Hoenn? C'mon, Midori, VARIETY!**

**Maybe that's why Wally was spared. Or…is it something else? PLOT TWIST!**

**All right, enough of the all caps. I'm enjoying writing this. I'm hoping to start killing off more people per chapter, though, so that this doesn't end the same way every chapter. Maybe next chapter will be longer.**

**~Midori**


	4. Wally and the Blood Stained Blanket

**Chapter Four: Wally and the Blood-Stained Blanket**

"W-Wally…?" Ruby, along with Yellow and Cheren, stared at him in utter disbelief. With two people dead beside him and the entire room stained in red…

How was he not dead?

"Ruby? What's going…?" Before Ruby could even answer his question (one which even Ruby couldn't really give a straight answer other than that Emerald and the nurse were _dead_) Wally's eyes widened as he noticed the blood covering the walls. He looked down at his stained blanket and threw it aside. As he fumbled to get off of the bed, he nearly slipped on something wet on the floor.

"Wally!" Ruby lurched forward, catching Wally as the two tumbled to the floor.

"Oww…" Wally raised his head. "T-thanks, Rub—" the green-haired boy abruptly stopped mid-sentence.

"Wally, are you oka—?" Ruby paused as well, not able to finish his sentence when he realized what Wally was looking at.

Emerald's dead body was right next to them. Wally had slipped in his blood.

"R-R-Ruby…?" Wally stuttered. "I-is that…Emerald…?"

Ruby couldn't answer, just continuing to stare in horror at the dead boy in front of him. His friend. Another friend, dead.

Cheren finally spoke up. "You guys have to get out of here." Neither of the alive Hoenn kids moved. "Please! You can't stay here! It's not going to help anything being here! He's already dead!"

Yellow cautiously tiptoed around the bodies, attempting to avoid the blood but there was just too much to miss it all. She kneeled in between Ruby and Wally and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "Please, guys. Let's go. I know it's hard, but…" she looked down, trying not to tear up. She hadn't known Emerald very well, but there was another person dead. It was all hard to take in. She couldn't stay in here with the bodies anymore. She had to get herself and the remaining Hoenn kids out of here. "C'mon…"

Wally glanced at her. Yellow looked at him sympathetically, as he was covered in Emerald's own blood. "O-okay…" Wally finally replied. He and Yellow helped pick Ruby up and led him and themselves out of the room, Cheren following behind and closing the door.

As Yellow handed Wally a handkerchief to wipe off his face, she couldn't help but wonder: Wally was sleeping in the room while Emerald and the nurse were being butchered. Wally was known for being a heavy sleeper considering his illness, but even if he didn't wake up…

Why did the murderer decide to spare him?

* * *

A few moments later, Green and Platinum came sprinting down the hallway toward the group outside Wally's room.

"What's wrong?" Green yelled. "We heard screaming. Wait, Yellow? What are you doing her—?" he had noticed the Healer before he spotted Wally covered in blood.

"W-Wally!" Platinum rushed over to him. "Are you okay? Where is the nurse?"

"P-Platinum," Yellow said. "That's not Wally's blood. Emerald and the nurse were…murdered."

As both the Trainer and the rich girl gasped in horror, Cheren explained what happened after he chased after Ruby to Wally's room, running into Yellow, what they discovered when they entered the room, and their surprise at the fact that Wally was spared.

"I cannot believe that they were murdered…but not Wally," Platinum said. "I mean, not saying that he should have died or anything, of course not, but it's just odd that the murderer…"

"Didn't kill me?" Wally finished her sentence. "I don't really understand it either. I mean, I was asleep! I would have been the perfect target…"

"Or maybe it was a way to try to pin the crime on you," Cheren remarked. "No one would suspect a sickly boy of being capable of murdering people, but people would think it odd if he was left alive in a room with two dead people next to him and be able to sleep through it all."

"I guess that's true…" Wally frowned. "I could sit here for hours and try to convince you that I didn't murder them, but I seem the most likely suspect…"

"But that can't be right," Yellow said. "Wally can't be the murderer; he was in here the whole time when Sapphire was murdered. I'm sure Ruby can vouch for that."

"WHAT?" Wally yelled out, causing everyone to jump. "Sapphire is dead, too?"

No one responded immediately. Ruby hadn't even said anything since walking out of the room.

"Y-yes…" Yellow finally responded. "Sapphire is…dead."

Wally couldn't believe it. It was already bad enough that Emerald had died, but now Sapphire, too? Besides Ruby, those were his two closest friends!

"What…is going on…?" He sat on the floor and hugged his knees. Yellow sat on the floor next to him and patted his shoulder. Ruby backed up against the wall and slid down on the opposite side of Wally.

"I…I don't know, buddy…" Ruby slowly reached his arm around Wally's neck, letting Wally rest his head on Ruby's shoulder. "I don't know…"

Everyone remained silent for a few moments, not to sure of what to say. A few tears were streaming down Wally's cheeks. He went to wipe them away with the handkerchief, but forgot that he had already used it to wipe Emerald's and the nurse's blood off of his face. He threw his eyes shut in frustration, having been reminded of when he saw Emerald's bloody, lifeless body of the floor. He could have been killed just like him; he was _right _there! But for some reason he had been spared. Why? What was the point?

Platinum finally spoke through the silence. "I think we should all return to the main room. Gold, Crystal, and Lyra are still there. We all need to lock ourselves in our separate rooms until I can get ahold of the police."

"Right." Everyone nodded in agreement. Cheren and Yellow helped lead Wally and Ruby down the hallway. They were the most exhausted in the whole group and surely needed some rest. Cheren told the Hoenn boys that it might be best for them to stay in his and Black's room for the night, possibly running by their room just down the hall so that they could grab their stuff. Wally needed a change of clothes; even though the blanket had prevented a lot of blood from splattering on his clothes, the shoulders of his white polo shirt were stained in the red liquid. They silently agreed.

Green and Platinum had been leading the group, and the four behind them were surprised when they suddenly stopped in front of them. Cheren noticed Platinum's drastic change in expression when her eyes widened and she threw her hands over her mouth.

"What's going on?" he nudged in between her and Green and let his mouth hang open at the horror in front of him.

Just minutes after having to witness discovering the second and third bodies (considering he was also there at the discovery of the first), the count now rose to five. Crystal and Lyra lay side-by-side on their backs, just like the nurse. Lyra's body was slightly leaning toward her older sister, her arm extended onto the Catcher's chest. The brunette pigtail sister had a simple stab wound toward the stomach, while the blunette's wound was through her heart. From what Cheren could observe, it looked as if Crystal had been killed rather quickly while Lyra was left to bleed out. While she could still move, Lyra must have intentionally placed her hand over Crystal's wound, possibly to try to stop it from bleeding. It wouldn't have worked, though, but Cheren assumed she had tried.

"C-Crystal! Lyra!" Yellow cried out, everyone now in full view of the dead pigtail sisters. "W-why?" She attempted to run toward them, but Green grabbed her arm to stop her. Yellow turned her head to face him, and he just shook his head.

"Where are the butlers?" Cheren asked Platinum.

"I don't know!" She answered, sounding panicked. "There should be at least one standing by somewhere close! Most of them leave for the evening around eleven, but I asked some to stay over tonight because of Silver's party and for Christmas the next morning. There should be one near every main room!"

Green and Cheren gasped and looked at one another in shock. They nodded their heads and ran to the other side of the room to a door that led out into a hallway connecting to the kitchen. When they threw open the door, they weren't entirely surprised to see a butler lying face down, having been stabbed in the back.

"There's one dead here," Green called out to Platinum. The rich girl shook her head and clenched her fists.

"I can't believe this…" she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. "Why? Why is this happening?"

"H-hey!" Ruby said, glancing around the room with a confused look on his face. "Aren't we missing someone?"

"Gold!" Platinum shouted, turning toward the couch where Gold had been laying. Everyone searched the room carefully for any trace of the Breeder, but there was nothing to be found. Not even outside of the room.

"He's missing," Wally said. "Are you sure he was in here when you guys left?"

"Yes," Green answered. "He was here along with the Johto girls when we took off to find the source of the scream we heard from Yellow. He was still out of it, so we told the girls to try to question him a little more about what was wrong with him."

"What was up with Gold? Was he still sick from earlier?" Yellow asked.

"We weren't sure if he was sick or not, but he looked more spooked than anything. We asked him what was going on with him and the only things he said were that he couldn't say, 'I know', and 'I saw'." Cheren explained.

"Saw?" Wally lowered his brow. "Saw what?"

"That was what we were trying to figure out," the Isshu native pushed the bridge of his glasses up to the top of his nose. "And now he's missing."

"You don't think that maybe…" Yellow trailed off. She lowered her head, taking a quick glance and the bodies in the room before turning away.

"That Gold could be the killer?" Ruby said. "Did that bastard kill my friends?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Cheren said. "The murderer is acting pretty fishy. He spared Wally and now Gold is missing. He could be using Gold for something."

"Gold did seem genuinely…fearful of something," Platinum commented. "From what Crystal had told us, she'd never seen him like that before."

"I just can't think that the murderer could be any of our friends…" Yellow said. "I mean, why would anybody do this? It just doesn't make sense…"

"Well, it's the only thing we have to go on, as much as I hate to admit it…" Green said. "That means that no matter if we lock ourselves in our rooms, the person we sleep next to could be the killer."

Everyone gasped at the thought of that. Nobody in the room was paired with one another, besides Platinum who was to be in her own room and Cheren assigning Ruby and Wally to his room. But even then, Black could be the murderer himself. There was no telling.

"It's not safe anywhere…" Yellow began to tear up. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Well, there's no splitting up at this point," Cheren told the group. "We should all stick together."

"Have you gotten ahold of the police yet, Platinum?" Green asked. Platinum shook her head.

"No, I haven't," she said solemnly. "I don't know what to do."

"Keep trying," Cheren said. "We need to get the police here as soon as possible."

"Why don't a few of us go out to the police station ourselves?" Wally asked.

"The nearest police station is in Jubilife City," Platinum said. "And it looks like a harsh blizzard outside. Even using a Flying-type Pokemon in this weather is asking for death."

"She's right," Yellow sadly agreed. "This is terrible."

"How many of us are there?" Ruby asked. "Is there anyone we can eliminate as not being the murderer?"

"Well," Cheren paused to think. "There are twenty of us total. Four of us—Sapphire, Emerald, Crystal, and Lyra—are dead, so now we're down to sixteen."

"That doesn't narrow it down much…" Yellow said.

"I might be able to narrow it down more…" Cheren said. "But it's difficult. Since any one of our friends could be the murderer, no one can really be relied on for alibis. Especially for Sapphire's murder."

"Well, can't we assume that if we were together between Emerald's murder and Crystal and Lyra's murder," Platinum said, 'we' meaning Green, Cheren, and herself, "and that Yellow and Wally were with Cheren and Ruby before Green and I left Crystal and Lyra alive in the main room that none of us could have been responsible for any of the murders?"

"True," Green said. "But there's also another problem."

"What is it?" Wally asked.

"The possibility that there's more than one murderer."

The room was deathly silent. More than one murderer? That couldn't be…

"That means that any of us could be…" Wally glanced around skeptically at everyone in the room. Anyone could be an enemy. He backed away from Ruby slowly.

"Wally?" Ruby stared at him in shock.

"Anyone…" Wally held his clenched fists up toward his chest in a defensive position. Even Ruby could be the murderer. He couldn't take any chances getting too close to anyone. Especially not considering that he was _this close _to being murdered himself.

Ruby frowned. He had already lost Sapphire and Emerald, and now Wally potentially suspected him of being the murderer. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Cheren!" He suddenly rushed up and grabbed the boy's tie, pulling him close. Ruby glared at him through gritted teeth. "One, two, five murderers, I don't care how many! They murdered my friends, and now I'm possibly being suspected! We need to find out who they are immediately and take them down!"

"Ruby, please, calm down," Green tried to separate him from Cheren, but Ruby swatted Green away.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" he shouted.

"Ruby, stop!" Yellow grabbed Ruby's other arm. "Maybe this is what the murderer wants! He's just playing with our minds! We need to get a grip and focus!"

Ruby stared hard into Yellow's chocolate brown eyes. She looked like she was about to cry. "Please…" she pleaded. "Stop…"

Ruby obliged and let go of Cheren's tie. "Fine. But I suggest we do something about this quick."

"Ruby's right," Platinum agreed. "We can't afford to let anyone else die."

"Do you think that maybe it would be a better plan to just have everyone gather in here?" Wally suggested. "That way, we'll all be in here and no one else should be murder because we'll all be in the same room!"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Green said. "If we can't get ahold of the police tonight, we'll just have to wait until morning."

"What a crappy way to spend Christmas morning…" Ruby said.

"Let's call everyone into the living room instead," Platinum said. "Obviously because…" she glanced over at the bodies.

"Of course," Cheren said. Before they left for the living room, Platinum pulled out a bed sheet from the hallway closet to place over Crystal and Lyra. Until the police could get here, they would just have to leave them there.

Green proceeded to send out another mass text to everyone, directing them to report to the living room. He hoped no one would question the change in rooms so that they wouldn't venture off to the main room themselves. Fortunately, no one did. Everyone seemed confused as to why they were there.

Once Cheren and Green were sure that all of the Pokedex Holders—plus Bill and White—were in the room, they began doing a head count.

"…Thirteen, fourteen." Green stopped, then counted again. Fourteen people were in the room, counting himself. That wasn't right.

"Sixteen, right?" he asked Cheren. "Who's missing?"

"Gold," he said. "Gold's still missing."

"Oh my Arceus!" they heard Yellow gasp. "Blue was supposed to walk me to Wally's room, but she told me to go on ahead because she had to use the bathroom! She never showed up!"

Green and Cheren glanced at one another. If this meant what they thought it did…"

There could be another dead body in the mansion somewhere.

* * *

**So? Suspenseful enough yet?**

**Do any of you guys have enough clues yet as to who the murder(ers) could be? No? Shall I kill more people off?**

**Tell me what you guys think! :D**

**~Midori**


	5. Green and the Search for Two

**Chapter Five: Green and the Search for Two**

"We have to find Blue," Green said. "She could be in trouble."

"Or…" Yellow squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. "She's already…dead…"

"Don't think like that," Wally patted her shoulder. "I'm sure she's okay."

Cheren glanced around at everyone else in the room. A few were chatting curiously among themselves, but for the most part they were staring at Wally. Wally's collar on his shirt was still covered in blood.

"Hey," Pearl decided to approach the green-haired boy. "Are you still sick? You haven't been coughing up blood, have you?"

"U-uh, um…" Wally began to panic. Besides Ruby, Yellow, Cheren, Green, Platinum, and himself, no one else knew about the murders of Emerald, Crystal, and Lyra. Were Cheren and Green going to say something?

"Okay, everyone, listen up!" Platinum spoke up first. "I do not mean to cause any alarm, but we have a huge problem. There are more people dead and others are missing."

There was a collection of gasps heard, and the group instantly began looking frantically for who wasn't in the room.

"Who…" Silver muttered in a ferocious tone. "Who is dead?"

Yellow lowered her head. She knew she had to break the news to Silver, and he wasn't going to take it well. "Silver…" she carefully stepped over to him and placed her head onto his chest, raising her hands to his shirt. "Crystal and Lyra are…dead. Gold and Blue are missing…"

She couldn't see Silver's expression, but she knew from the way he grabbed her arms and squeezed. He wasn't going to hurt her—no one could ever be mad at Yellow—but he was obviously angry and frustrated.

Green and Cheren decided to let Yellow take care of Silver. Besides the other Johto kids and Blue, Yellow was probably the next closest person to him. And if anything, Yellow was their best bet for calming anyone down if they needed it.

"Hey, Emerald's missing, too!" Black said.

"Emerald's…dead as well…" Wally placed his hands on his chest.

"What's going on?" Bianca clung onto White's arm. "More people are dead? I can't believe this…"

"Where are the police?" Red asked. "Why aren't they here?"

"I can't get ahold of them," Platinum answered. "And attempting to venture out to Jubilife City in this weather is absurd. We gathered everyone in here so that we can keep everyone safe. We can't separate from each other anymore!"

"Well, that's the problem," Diamond said. "Didn't you say that Blue and Gold are missing? Where did they go?"

"We're not sure," Cheren said. "But we need to find them quickly."

"Who's going to go look?" White asked.

"I am!" Silver suddenly shouted, startling Yellow. "If anyone has hurt either of them, I swear…"

"I-I'll go as well," Yellow said. "I was the last person to see Blue. If something happened to her, I…"

"Okay, that's fine," Cheren said. "Green, you go with them. Platinum and I will watch over everyone here."

Green nodded.

"Bill and I wanna go, too!" Red stepped forward and raised his hand. Bill wobbled next to him.

"Fine," Green said. "Five is better than three. Let's go."

Before they left the living room, Green made a mental note of everyone they were leaving behind. Ruby, Wally, the Sinnoh trio and the Isshu foursome. He glanced over at Red, Bill, Yellow, and Silver. Red and Bill were walking next to him while Yellow was holding onto Silver's arm a few steps behind them. If she let go of his arm, Green was sure he'd probably go crazy.

"So, what exactly happened to Emerald, Crystal, and Lyra?" Red spoke up and asked. Green decided to spend the next few minutes quickly explaining the situation from when everyone left the main room after hearing of Sapphire's murder to when they discovered Crystal and Lyra's bodies.

"An' now Blue an' Gold turn up missin'?" Bill said. "I can' believe it…what is goin' on aroun' here?"

"I don't know, but we have to keep everyone together," Green said. "Once we find Blue and Gold, we need to return to the living room and stay there until we can reach the police."

"I hope they're okay," Yellow said. "I would hate if Blue was killed and…"

"Yellow, don't blame yourself," Silver spoke. "She should have stayed with you. I don't know why she wandered off."

"Me neither," Red said. "It's just like her to do that. But now she could be in trouble."

"I'm really worried, though…" Bill said solemnly. "I mean, considerin' what we've been told, Gold seems like he could be…"

"Don't say that!" Silver yelled. "Gold can't be a killer! Why would he kill Crystal and Lyra? Why would he kill anyone?"

"We're not saying that Gold is a killer," Green said. "But someone around here is killing our friends off. Let's just focus on finding them right now."

They had silently walked past Wally's infirmary room, with Red and Bill shivering knowing that there were two dead bodies in there. They continued on down the hallway until Yellow spoke up.

"This was about where Blue left me," the blonde pointed out. "It was by this huge window. We had passed by a bathroom a little earlier and she said she should go before she visited Wally because she didn't want to have to get up again."

Green observed the large window, from the floor to the ceiling. Peeking outside, the blizzard was horrendous. Platinum was right, there was no way she was sending someone out in _that_. Green had trained in the harshest of conditions but even if he did reach Jubilife City on his Charizard, would the police be able to make it to Platinum's mansion?

Then he remembered something she had said.

"_It rang and rang and rang forever, but no one picked up!_"

Green hadn't given it much thought before, but he had assumed that maybe the power might have gone out at the police station or something. But if the phone kept ringing and ringing, that meant that the phone lines weren't dead. Nobody was picking the phone up.

No one.

"Here's the bathroom!" Green was snapped out of his thoughts by Red's voice yelling from down the hall. The group joined him by outside the room, the door slightly ajar. "I mean, I think it is."

"Let me open it," Silver said, stepping forward. Green wasn't sure whether that was a good idea or not—he was a little worried about what they would find behind the door—but he couldn't tell Silver otherwise. The Exchanger was going to open it regardless.

Silver reached out and placed his hand on the wooden door, listening to it creak. When he opened it all the way, he turned on the light and everyone collectively gasped.

Gold was lying facedown on the floor.

"GOLD!" Silver shouted out, flinging Yellow off of him and rushing to his side. "Gold, Arceus, Gold!"

"Don't touch him!" Green warned.

"Shut up!" Silver barked, completely ignoring the Trainer and kneeling down to pick Gold up to place him in his lap. "Gold, can you hear me? Gold!"

"Mph…Mmm…" the group was all shocked to hear Gold stirring to wake up. He slowly raised his eyelids and looked at Silver. "S-Silver…?"

"Gold!" Silver hugged his best friend. "I'm so glad you're okay! Are you hurt anywhere? What happened?"

"I-I think something hit my head and knocked me out…" the Breeder reached to touch the back of his head. "But I'm not hurt anywhere else…"

"What were you doing, Gold?" Yellow was now beside Silver, questioning Gold. "You disappeared after Crystal and Lyra were…"

Gold's eyes widened and he began shaking uncontrollably. "C-Crys and Lyra… T-they were… I had to run! I didn't want to die!"

"Did you see the murderer?" Green asked. "What happened?"

"I was laying on the couch and the girls were talking to me, but I was getting really tired so I began drifting off to sleep. The next thing I knew, I heard them talking again but I didn't open my eyes. I heard one of them huff loudly and then a thud sound. The other tried to scream, but I think something was put over their mouth and then I heard another thud. Someone was breathing heavily and saying something, but it was hard to tell what they were saying. I opened one of my eyes and saw the girls lying on the ground covered in blood. Whoever stabbed them had their back to me and was watching them die. I freaked out and darted off the couch toward the other door. I think they tried chasing after me but they didn't catch up for awhile. I hid in here and wasn't sure what to do next. After about twenty minutes, I tried walking out of here and rushing to my room to tell Silver, but…that's when something bashed me in the back of the head." Gold explained. "Maybe it was the murderer…"

"What?" Red said. "I'm confused. If it was the murderer, why didn't he just kill you?"

"Well, the murderer also spared Wally, too," Green mentioned. "What kind of games is he playing?"

"He musta knocked Gold out wit' somethin' and threw 'im in here," Bill said. "But it don' make sense as to why he didn' kill 'im."

"I don't know…" Silver said. "But at least he's still alive."

"But wait…" Green scratched his chin. "Gold, earlier you were acting really strange. Crystal and Lyra were trying to ask you about what was wrong. You might have mentioned seeing something. Did you possibly…witness something?"

Silver helped Gold sit up properly, and the Breeder stared at the ground for a moment before answering. "I…I think…No, I saw…Sapphire's murderer…"

Everyone but Green gasped in horror.

"You…you _saw _him?" Red said.

"I was on my way back to the main room when I saw him rush out of Sapphire's room and throw the door shut behind him. It was dark in the hallway, so I couldn't tell who it was. I knew that room was also Crystal and Lyra's room, so I peeked inside to see if the girls had left, and that's when I saw…Sapphire dead. I immediately got sick and rushed to the bathroom in my room to throw up. Silver asked what was wrong, but I couldn't tell him. I couldn't say anything! After that I didn't want to leave the room, but Silver called Blue and asked for her help to take me downstairs. He didn't want me to miss out on the party… I-I wanted to tell someone, but I…panicked. I was so scared." Gold hugged his arms and Yellow bent down next to him to rest her head on his shoulder.

"So that's why you were actin' that way," Bill said.

"I can't believe…I'm not dead, though…" Gold said. "Did you say Wally was spared? Was someone else murdered, too?"

Green re-explained the situation to Gold, including how Wally woke up from his rest to find Emerald and the nurse dead beside him and Wally covered in their blood.

"I don't…understand…" Gold clenched his fists. "The murderer killed Sapphire, Emerald…and Crystal and Lyra! Then he decided to spare Wally and I! Why? Why is he doing this?"

"We have no clue…" Yellow said. "But the fact that Gold was spared is something that really troubles me…"

"Why is that?" Silver asked.

"Think about it. Gold saw the murderer _twice_. And when Gold walked out of the bathroom, the murderer only knocked him out. He had the perfect opportunity to kill him, but yet he didn't take it. Even though Gold couldn't tell who he was, the murderer doesn't know that. For all he knows, Gold could be telling us right now who he is! The murderer is doing more than just playing games…

"There must be some reason he specifically spared Gold, and possibly even Wally. And we need to find out what it is as soon as possible!"

* * *

**Wow. This just keeps getting…more and more confusing.**

**WHAT ARE YOU UP TO, MURDERER?**

**Some characters are getting more spotlight than others. I need to fix that soon so that everyone can be balanced out. Anyone could be the murderer, and every detail counts…**

**~Midori**


	6. Bianca and her Trembling Hands

**Just for anyone who's curious, cause someone's already asked, Bill talks the way he does because in the Viz English edition of the manga he speaks with a thick Southern accent. In the original Japanese manga he speaks with an Osaka accent, which loosely translates to a Southern accent. Which is odd because in the anime, Bill speaks with a British accent.**

**The More You Know. *Shooting star* Trademark. Lulz if you understand what I'm talking about. I'm weird, ignore me.**

**You guys have given me some good guesses. Well, let's continue watching more people get killed off. :O**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Bianca and her Trembling Hands**

Green, Red, Bill, Yellow, Silver, and now Gold were walking down the dimly lit hallway on their search for the missing Blue. Luckily for them, they found Gold alive. Now they just hoped that they would find Blue the same…

They spent the last hour opening doors, searching thoroughly through rooms, and panicking even more when they were running out of rooms the look through. Silver was about to lose it.

"Where could she be?" Silver angrily threw a laundry basket across the room. "It's almost like she's _hiding _from us!"

When Silver said that, Yellow gasped. "Wait…"

"What is it?" Gold asked.

"I-I'd hate to say this, but…is there a possibility that maybe…Blue is…"

"Yellow! Don't say that!" Silver grabbed the Healer's shoulders aggressively.

"H-hey!" The rest of the boys lunged forward, Green and Red shoving Silver off of Yellow while Gold grabbed him from behind. "Stop it, Silver!" Gold yelled.

"Yellow! Are you okay?" Bill asked, holding her hand. She was shaking, and Bill gave her a hug to try to calm her down.

"Silver, please, calm down!" Red said. "She doesn't mean any harm, but she's right! Someone in this house is a killer, and if we can't find Blue anywhere, she's either dead or the killer! Or…just ridiculously good at hiding and waiting for one of us to come find her…"

"But Blue's not the type of person to run from something like this," Green said. "She's very confrontational and hates sitting still. She wouldn't just hide and stay there forever."

"Something's wrong either way," Gold said. "Silver, I know you're upset, but you have to calm down! We have to stay focused."

Silver shrugged Gold's hand off of his shoulder. "Sorry, Yellow," Silver apologized, but he didn't sound like he meant it.

"What are we gonna do if we search all these rooms and can' find Blue?" Bill asked.

"We search again!" Silver said. "I'm not leaving Blue to fend for herself!"

"But we need to get back to the others soon," Green said. "We have to stay together so that no one else gets murdered."

Silver gritted his teeth. "Blue, where the _hell _are you…"

"C'mon, let's keep looking. We won't give up now," Green said. Everyone but Silver nodded. Silver just clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"Fine."

* * *

Ruby, Wally, the Sinnoh trio, and the Isshu foursome were still in the living room waiting for the Kanto natives and the Johto boys to return. For awhile, no one spoke. There wasn't really anything to say. Four of their friends were dead, and two were missing. They were just hoping they would return with Gold and Blue by their side. Alive.

Then they heard footsteps. Everyone glanced over toward the hallway.

"Gold!" Bianca shouted when everyone entered the room. Bianca didn't know Gold very well, but that didn't stop her from jumping up and hugging the Breeder. "You're alive!" The others got up and rushed to their side.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Gold said. "But…"

"Did you guys…find Blue?" Diamond asked. No one answered for a moment.

"No…" White gasped. "Don't tell me she's…"

"We don't know," Yellow said. "We couldn't find her."

"I-I'm not sure if that's good news or not," Black said.

"Did you guys look everywhere?" Pearl asked.

"Yes. Even in Sapphire's room," Green said. "But we found out that Gold saw the killer after they murdered Sapphire and before they knocked him out in the bathroom."

"WHAT?" Everyone gasped.

"Who's the murderer?" Ruby grabbed Gold's shoulders. "Who killed Sapphire and Emerald?"

"I-I don't know!" Gold answered. "It was too dark to see!"

"Wait, so you saw the murderer twice, but they didn't kill you?" Cheren asked.

"Cheren!" Bianca lightly punched his shoulder in anger.

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" Cheren waved his hands.

"We asked the same question," Bill said. "The killer knocked 'im out but didn' kill 'im!"

"Does the killer know that Gold couldn't see him in the dark?" Platinum asked.

"He didn't kill me either, even though he had a perfect opportunity to…" Wally said.

"Nothing is making sense," White frowned. "Everyone's together now, except for Blue…"

"What do we do now?" Ruby asked. "Should we swap groups and search again?"

"I'm gonna go look for her again!" Silver stomped his foot. "Whoever's coming with me better hurry it up!"

"Silver, wait!" Red placed his hand on his shoulder to stop him. "We can't just go blindly looking for her again. We need to think of a plan!"

"He's right," Cheren said. "Why don't we split into two equal groups and take a floor to search. One group will take the third floor, one will take the second, and then we'll regroup and take the whole first floor together."

"Okay, that sounds good," Platinum said. "I hate to say this, but we need to act like the killer is among us. We're the only people left here and it would be difficult to trust anyone individually, so we need to stay in as big a group as possible in order to monitor one another. There are fifteen of us, so one group of six and another of seven. Let's decide the groups with a deck of cards," Platinum walked over to a side table near the couch and opened the drawer, pulling out a deck of cards. "I'll remove one Ace, one one, one two and so forth until the King. Since there are thirteen cards in a group, I'll pull out another Ace and King to make it even. I'll shuffle them and everyone will pick one card. Anyone with an Ace between six will be in one group and seven to King will be in the other group. Got it?"

Everyone nodded will Platinum gathered the cards. She shuffled the fifteen cards and held them out, everyone grabbing a card one by one.

"Okay, show me your cards."

The groups ended up like this: Red, Green, Silver, Ruby, Diamond, Platinum, and Bianca were in the first group while Yellow, Bill, Gold, Wally, Pearl, Black, White and Cheren were in the second group.

"All right, there are more rooms on the second floor, so the second group can take that floor and we'll take the third floor," Platinum said. "Let's go find Blue."

The groups were silent as they walked towards the stairs. They wished each other luck as they separated.

"Let's get started."

* * *

The first group reached the top of the stairs and stopped, as they had all been following Platinum. She turned around to face her group.

"We are all to stay together, understand?" she said intently. Everyone but Bianca nodded. Platinum noticed this. "Bianca? Is something wrong?"

"I-I'm just scared…" she sniffled, sounded like she was about to cry. "I-I'm sorry, I don't mean to hold the group back…"

"It's okay," Diamond smiled at her to try to lighten the mood. "Would you like to hold my hand?" He held out his hand to her.

"O-okay…" she took it and squeezed. "T-thanks…"

"I wish this to be over quickly, but I want to make sure we search thoroughly," Platinum said. "Let's begin searching."

They began searching the rooms one by one, making sure to open every door, look under every bed, behind every curtain…

Finally a half-hour passed. They were almost done with the third floor. So far, no sign of Blue.

"I can't believe we can't find her," Ruby said. "Whether she's dead or alive, I don't understand how we can't find her."

"I know," Green said. "I'm really starting to wonder about this." He glanced over at Silver. He hadn't said a word since they began their search.

"Sorry about your birthday, Silver…" Bianca said sympathetically. "And about…Crystal and Lyra…"

"There's nothing we can do about the girls," Silver said. "We need to just focus on finding Blue. I'm not losing anyone else.

Suddenly, the lights turned off completely. The group was enveloped in darkness.

"Kyaaahhhh!" Bianca screamed.

"No one move!" Green shouted.

As the group stood frozen, Diamond felt Bianca let go of his hand.

"Bianca, it's okay, I'm right next to—" he didn't finish his sentence, for a loud thud cut him off.

"W-what was that?" Ruby asked.

The lights flickered back on. Everyone looked around at one another.

"Are we all still here?" Red asked.

"Where's Bianca?" Diamond asked, glancing around frantically.

"G-guys…" Silver stuttered, causing everyone to focus their attention on him. "I found Bianca…" he pointed to the ground.

No one wanted to follow where his finger was pointing, but slowly tilted their heads down anyway. Platinum threw her hands over her mouth, trying not to vomit.

"B-but, how?" Diamond put his hands on his head and tried not to begin crying. "I was holding her hand! She was right next to me!"

Bianca was lying on her back, a knife sticking out of her chest.

* * *

The second group was wary about entering Crystal, Lyra, and Sapphire's room to look for Blue, since Sapphire's body was still in there.

"Let's get this over with quickly," Cheren said. "Wally, you can stand in the doorway. We've covered up her body, but…"

"I-I'll stand here with him," Yellow said, giving the Hoenn native a hug.

"Thanks, Yellow…" Wally wrapped his arms around the Healer, holding back tears.

The rest of the group tore through the room quickly, carefully stepping over Sapphire. A few minutes later, they exited the room still having not found Blue.

"I'm not sure what to say," White said. "What do we do if we can't find Blue?"

"We shouldn't give up, but…" Pearl frowned. "It's getting late, and we're all tired. After we finish up searching the house again, we might just have to all stay in a room and hope for the best. Blue's tough. If she's not dead, she might be able to hold her own. Besides, if we're all together, it's not like anyone could go out to kill her anyway."

"Well, Arceus, _we_ can' even find her," Bill sighed. "The killer would have a har' time findin' her anyway…"

"But there's also the possibility that, maybe, Blue is the killer herself…" Black said solemnly.

"Well, we shouldn't make any assumptions yet until we locate her," Cheren said. "Let's continue looking."

Before they could continue walking the lights shut off, leaving the eight of them in the dark.

"Oh no!" White gasped. "The power went out!"

"What do we do now?" Gold asked.

"Don't panic!" Cheren said. "Just stand still!"

"We can' just stay in the dark!" Bill shouted.

"_Ooph!_" _Thud!_

"Huh?"

"What was that?"

"What's going on?"

The lights switched back on. Everyone stared at one another.

"Oh!" Wally gasped. "The lights came back on!"

"Wait, there's only seven of us," Cheren observed.

"O-oh my Arceus…" Pearl gasped, looking down at the floor. "H-he's…"

Everyone followed his gaze and everyone jumped and gasped in surprise.

"N-no… No!" White shrieked.

Black was lying dead on the floor facedown, a butcher knife stuck in his back.

* * *

**OH SNAP! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED? :O**

**I didn't think this story would be as long as this, but I forgot there were twenty people and most of them are to be killed off. Six down, however many left to go… O.o**

**~Midori**


	7. Dia, Pearl and the Horrifying Accusation

**Chapter Seven: Diamond, Pearl and the Horrible Accusation**

"N-no! Bianca!" Ruby covered his mouth but couldn't look away from the lifeless body on the floor in front of him. Red, Green, and Silver stared in horror while Diamond was rubbing Platinum's back, trying to prevent her from throwing up.

"I-I don't understand…" Diamond breathed. "She was right there next to me. _Right there!_"

"The lights were only out for a few seconds!" Red said.

"I hate to say this, but the killer has to be among us," Green said, glancing intently at everyone.

"E-either that or—*Cough!*" Platinum choked. "T-that, or it was…B-Blue…"

"Why do you guys keep accusing Blue?" Silver yelled. "We don't even know where she is! I highly doubt that within the few seconds that the lights were out, she could have sped past us, killed Bianca, then ran off without us even hearing her!"

"Fine, then let's start accusing you!" Ruby pointed at Silver. "You killed Bianca!"

"What?" Silver rushed up to Ruby and grabbed his shirt. "How dare you—!"

"Guys, stop!" Diamond cut in between the two bickering boys. "Someone else is _dead!_ We can't keep fighting like thi—!"

Suddenly, Diamond's Poketch began ringing.

"S-someone's calling me!" Diamond pressed the top red button on his Poketch, Pearl's name flashing across the small green screen. "Pearl? What's going on?"

"_D-Diamond!_" Pearl called out hesitantly. "_B-Black is dead! Someone killed him when the lights went out!_"

Everyone in Diamond's group gasped. "W-what?" Ruby stuttered. "N-no way!"

"P-Pearl!" Diamond could barely speak. "B-Black is…dead?"

"_Yes! That's what I just_ _said! Cheren says he's not sure what to do. Have you guys found Blue?_"

"P-Pearl… We haven't found Blue, but…"

"_But what?_"

"…Bianca's dead."

* * *

Both group reunited again at the south stairwell of the first floor, which was the original plan in the first place, but no one realized that they would be down another two people: Black and Bianca. White hadn't stopped crying since discovering Black's body, but finding out that Bianca as gone as well nearly sent her over the edge. She lost two of her best friends in a matter of seconds and even Cheren couldn't comfort her. She had fell to her knees in tears and it took the efforts of everyone in her group to help her up and finally get her to move downstairs. Now she was holding tightly onto Yellow and Cheren's hands with the intention of probably never letting go.

The remaining thirteen people, with the exception of Blue whose whereabouts in the mansion were still unknown, stood in silence for a few good minutes, the only sounds being choked sobs from White and coughing from Wally.

No one had any idea what to do now. Even staying in a tight group didn't make any difference. Two more people were dead but with this happening, a few more things were evident.

"It's obvious now that, whether Blue is a killer or not, there are _two _killers among us," Pearl said. "At least."

"Yeah," Green said. "There's no way that one person alone could have killed two people on completely different floors within the fifteen to twenty seconds the lights were out."

"Which points out, how in the world did the lights go out in the first place?" Yellow asked. "Could it have been the blizzard?"

"Doubtful," Cheren said. "The timing was too perfect. Besides, if it was the bad weather, the power probably would have been out longer."

"So it was timed?" Gold questioned.

"I'm sure it was," Cheren nodded. "Platinum, do you know where the breakers are in this mansion?"

"Y-yes," Platinum was still shaky after witnessing one of her friends die in front of her. "It's on the other side of the house, near the garage. Shall we all go together?"

"Yes," Pearl said. "As cheesy as this sounds, I think we should all hold hands with at least one other person."

"I agree," Green said.

On the order, everyone began linking hands. Cheren and Yellow continued to hold White's hand and Bill held Yellow's other hand. Red and Green held hands, while Gold and Silver did the same. Ruby held Wally's right hand with his own right hand and used his left hand to hold on to the sickly boy's shoulder. Diamond held onto both Platinum and Pearl's hands. The Sinnoh trio took the lead as they walked through the first floor toward the opposite side of the house.

When they reached the breaker room, Cheren and Green checked the main power switch.

"Everything looks fine to me," Cheren said. "My guess was that maybe Blue came down here and flipped the switch herself then turned it back on, but if that was the case…"

"That would mean that there are _three _killers!" Wally gasped.

"Either that, or Blue's jus' the sneaky accomplice for the other two," Bill commented.

"No, wait a minute…" Pearl inspected the breaker closer. "There's a small wire attached to this main switch."

"Huh?" Cheren looked at where Pearl was pointing. "He's right!" Cheren removed the barely noticeable wire from the switch. "It's been yanked off. And there's half of an Iron Ball attached to the end of the wire."

"Look at this!" Red said, directing everyone's attention to a small table under the breaker. "There's a candle here, and something else is melted next to it."

"The other end of the wire," Gold said. "This was set up."

"At some point, someone put a candle in here under this wire, which was also tied to this Iron Ball piece and when the wire melted, the wire with the Iron Ball piece forced the switch down and turned off the lights," Cheren explained.

"So anyone could have set this up," Silver said.

"But wait, how did the lights come back on?" Ruby asked.

"If there's a power outage in the mansion, the backup generator automatically turns the power back on after about twenty to thirty seconds," Platinum reached for the main switch. "So this is actually still turned off."

"P-Platinum?" Diamond stuttered as she flipped the switch. She glanced over at him.

"What is it, Diamond?" she raised her eyebrow. His shocked expression was troubling her.

"Platinum…aren't you the only one who knows that…?" Pearl spoke up. Everyone was now facing the rich girl.

"W-what?" she gasped. "A-are you…accusing _me _of the murders…?"

"W-well…" Gold frowned. "Who else would know that? Besides, weren't you the one who came up with the idea to split us up into two groups to look for Blue by using cards?"

"B-but, what about the other killer!" Platinum said. "If I'm one of the killers, who is the other? Can you really just prove that I'm a killer just because I knew about how the breakers work in my home?"

Everyone nervously glanced at one another. No one spoke up.

Platinum began to tear up. "Diamond, Pearl, I'm disappointed in you guys. How could my best friends accuse me of murder?"

"We're all beginning to turn on one another," Ruby said solemnly. "It's hard not to when at least two of us are murderers…"

The room fell deathly silent. Wally began coughing and didn't stop.

"W-Wally?" Ruby glanced at his best friend. "Are you okay?"

"Let's move to the kitchen and get him something to drink," Yellow said. "And I'm sure we could sit down and take a break."

* * *

Per Yellow's instruction, the group made their way to the kitchen. Platinum grabbed a glass a filled it with water from the sink for Wally. Cheren paid close attention to Platinum as she filled the glass.

"What?" Platinum took notice of this and voiced her discomfort toward the spectacled boy's stern glance. "Do you think I would slip something harmful in his drink to kill him?"

"I'm just keeping a watchful eye," Cheren said.

"If I wanted to kill Wally, why didn't I just do it when I murdered Emerald? Huh? Since you guys seem to think that I'm one of the murderers and all." Platinum was obviously very upset, even glaring at Diamond and Pearl. Then she turned her attention back toward Cheren. "What about you? You and Green have been pretty bossy since all of this started. I may have had the idea to use cards to split us into groups, but I didn't choose them directly. You guys didn't end up in the same group. Could you two possibly be the killers?"

"What?" Green flinched. "That's absurd!"

"Is it now?" Silver jumped in. "You keep accusing Blue of being a murderer, but you could be saying that just to keep the spotlight away from you!" The Exchanger then spun around to face Yellow. "And what about _you_? You've been pointing fingers at her as well. Isn't she your best friend? But maybe you're better friends with Green than I thought. Neither of you were in the same group, either!"

"W-what?" Yellow gasped. "S-Silver! I-I—"

"But you seem to be defending her so much," Gold remarked. "Crystal and Lyra are dead, but you only seem to be concerned about Blue! With her missing, the both of you could have done this!"

"Are you serious, Gold?" Silver stepped closer to the Breeder. "I can't believe you're pointing fingers at me! You said you saw the murderer twice, but was that really the case? You were the last person to see the murderer when they were killing Crystal and Lyra…or maybe you murdered them yourself and then hurt yourself on purpose in the bathroom so that we could find you!"

"Why you—!" Gold suddenly threw a fist at Silver, the redhead narrowly ducking the punch.

"Hey!" Red lunged at Gold and pinned him to the ground while Green grabbed Silver's arms from behind.

"Get off of me, Red!" Gold flailed beneath the Battler, but Red refused to move.

"No!" Red yelled. "This is not the time to be fighting! Calm down!"

"Dammit…!" Silver said through gritted teeth. "Get off of me!" He shoved the Trainer backward.

"I'm done, just let me go!" Gold stopped moving, and Red finally got up. Red offered to help him off the ground, but Gold slapped his hand away.

"Guys, us fightin' isn' makin' things any easier…" Bill slumped his shoulders and frowned. "This is pointless."

"It's hard to stay focused on much else when we know that at least one of us is a killer," Ruby said. "I don't know what to say about Blue. And I don't need any death glares from you, redhead." That last sentence had obviously been directed at Silver, who had glanced at Ruby at the mention of Blue.

"Well, I'm not sure if there's any point in asking what we should do now…" Yellow yawned.

"What time is it?" Wally asked.

Pearl glanced at his Poketch. "Close to three."

"I'm so tired…" Yellow slumped to the floor, White sitting down next to her as they were still holding hands. Cheren had let go of her hand when she sat down.

"Without knowing where Blue is and the idea that there are two killers left in this mansion makes the idea of sleep impossible," Diamond said. "Unless at least six or seven of us stay awake and maybe switch off in an hour or something."

"I'm not tired," Green said.

"I'm staying awake," Silver said. "All night if I have to."

"Same here," Red said.

"Since I was accused of working with Green, I'll be on the shift opposite of him," Cheren said.

"Yellow and White need sleep the most," Bill said. "Who else is really tired?" Wally, Diamond and Platinum all raised their hands. "Okay, so Yellow, White, Cheren, Wally, Platinum, and Diamond will sleep first. That leaves Red, Green, Gold, Silver, Ruby, Pearl and I to stay on guard. Are we gonna jus' stay in here? I reckon it won' be comfortable…"

"I don't want to be the one to suggest anything else, because I really don't want anymore fingers pointed at me," Platinum sighed, "but we should stay in my room. It's one of the biggest rooms in the house, and there are plenty of blankets and pillows so we can relax and be comfortable. We need to remain in one place until morning."

"That's fine," Cheren said. "Lead the way. And hold hands with someone else."

Because of the previous arguments, the hand-holding groups changed. Cheren, White, and Yellow were still together, along with Ruby and Wally and Diamond and Pearl, but Platinum was now holding hands with Gold, Red held Bill's hand, and Green reluctantly held Silver's hand. Platinum's room was the last room on the south side of the mansion and the only bedroom on the first floor, besides her father's room down the hall.

"Okay, we're here," Platinum said. She reached for the doorknob and turned it. The group stepped inside while Platinum flipped the light switch.

There was no time to relax. Yellow may have been tired, but her eyes widened upon the sight before her. White screamed next to her.

Sure, they found Blue. But not alive. She was killed similar to the others, this time with a knife through her heart.

* * *

**I'm starting to wonder if killing someone at the end of every chapter is getting too repetitive… :/**

**But the pot is beginning to stir! Everyone's turning on one another!**

**It's hard to think of different ways for everyone to begin separating from one another. Argh! So many more people left…**

**Hey, but as long as it keeps you guys entertained. Thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad I'm doing a good job at keeping up the suspense. I read a lot of Case Closed/Detective Conan. It helps some. :O**

**~Midori**


	8. Bill and the Small Flashlight

**Chapter Eight: Bill and the Small Flashlight**

"BLUE!" Silver shoved Green aside and ran over to Blue's body.

"Silver, don't touch her!" Cheren said. Silver dropped to his knees next to her, but paused before attempting to grab her arm. He had reached for Gold's body in the bathroom for the possibility that he was still alive, but there was no point in trying to wake up Blue. That knife was straight through her heart. She was gone.

"B-Blue…" Silver couldn't hold back his tears. Even at his accusations toward her, Yellow couldn't help but grab his shoulders from behind, kneeling down behind him and placing her forehead on his back. She was crying with him.

"B-but how…?" Red asked, glancing around the room. "The first time we searched for Blue, she wasn't in this room. We checked this room, right?" he turned to Green for confirmation.

"Of course we did," Green said. "This was one of the bigger rooms of the house, so we made sure to check everything twice before we moved onto the next room."

"T-then how…did she end up h-here…?" Platinum turned away from Blue's body, trying not to throw up again. Wally handed her his glass of water, which she sipped carefully. She felt weak and almost fell to her knees, but Ruby caught her.

"Platinum! Are you okay?" Ruby asked, slowly setting her on the floor.

"W-we can't stay…in here…" she huffed. "C-can we go to my father's room…?"

"Sure thing," Green said. "Grab a blanket to put over her body," he said to Red.

"O-okay…" Red stepped over to the large walk-in closet and reached for a red blanket sitting on a low shelf. He unfolded it and laid it completely over Blue's body. Silver had continued to stare at the blanket, refusing to look away.

"Silver…" Diamond knelt down next to him. "We have to go…"

Silver was reluctant to move, but knew that staring at Blue wasn't going to bring her back to life. Crystal and Lyra were gone as well. He finally stood up and walked over to the door, not looking back.

"Let's go," he said monotony. He refused to look at anyone.

The remaining Pokedex Holders—Red, Green, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Ruby, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, and Cheren—along with Bill, Wally, and White, made their way into Mr. Berlitz's room, who was away on business. Yellow, the last person to enter the room, locked the door behind her, causing everyone to turn around.

"Why did you lock the door?" Red asked.

"Um…" Yellow looked around, then back toward the door. She unlocked it. "S-sorry. I want to think that the murderers are running around the mansion, but now that Blue's dead…"

Everyone glanced around uneasily at one another. It was bad enough thinking one of the killers was in their group, but now with Blue dead it was obvious that out of the last thirteen people alive, two of them had murdered their other friends. And they were all in this room…

"Well, no more accusing Blue of being a murderer…" Green said, mostly to Silver. He felt a little apologetic, considering Blue was one of his close friends as well. But knowing that any of their friends could be murderers, it was hard to trust anyone.

"So…tired…" Yellow yawned, and White was wiping her eyes next to her.

"You guys can get some sleep, now," Red said, helping lead Yellow and White over to the bed. "Man, this bed is huge! I think all six of you can fit on it."

Yellow, White, and Platinum lay on the bed side by side. There was enough room next to Platinum for Wally to lay also. Cheren and Diamond rested horizontally on the foot of the bed.

"Wake us up in an hour or so," Cheren said to Green. "We'll switch off."

"Sure," he said. Wally turned on a desk lamp on the side table next to him so that Bill could switch off the main light.

Everyone on the bed fell asleep quickly. Green envied them for a moment. He wasn't too tired, but he had to stay awake and continue being haunted by the thoughts of his friend's deaths. He hoped that they were too tired to dream; he was worried that one of them would wake up from a nightmare.

Ruby and Pearl sat by the window, watching the snow blow ferociously and listening to the loud howl of the wind.

"We still never got ahold of the police, did we?" Pearl turned toward the rest of the group, who were sitting in a circle on the floor next to the bed. Green shook his head. "Even if we did, I doubt they would even be able to make it through this awful weather. It's like an Articuno hates this area or something."

"An Articuno?" Ruby raised his eyebrow. "You mean that beautiful blue bird Pokemon that's native to Kanto? Ah, what a majestic Pokemon! I wish I could see one in person."

"I've seen one before," Red said. "Actually, Blue—" he didn't finish his sentence. He wanted to say that Blue actually caught one—caught all three legendary birds—but stopped himself for fear of upsetting Green and Silver again.

"Wow, jealous!" Ruby's eyes gleamed. "Such a beautiful Pokemon… I've always wanted to go to Kanto with Sapph—!" Another pause. Ruby frowned, then began to tear up. "S-Sapphire…" Pearl reached over and rubbed his back while he wiped his tears away.

"I can' believe someone woul' do this…" Bill said. "Why? Why woul' someone do this?" He slammed his fists on the floor in frustration.

"I don't know…" Gold put his hand through his hair and clenched his fist. "But when I find out who it is, I won't even give them a chance to tell me why they did it!"

_Crash!_

The boys all jumped up. A loud noise came from outside of the bedroom.

"W-what was that?" Red flew to his feet.

"It came from the hallway, I think!" Silver said, walking over to the door and putting his ear to it. "I don't hear anything else."

"But how can that be?" Pearl wondered. "We're the only ones left in this house! Alive, at least…"

"Does that mean…there's an outsider in the mansion?" Green questioned.

"What shoul' we do?" Bill asked. "We can' leave this room, but…"

"There's a possibility that someone else in this house is killing our friends and trying to frame us!" Gold said.

"That is true," Ruby said. "I think we should check it out."

"But we can't leave them!" Pearl said, pointing to his friends asleep on the bed. "We should just lock the door and stay here."

"There's seven of us," Green said. "How about three of us have a look around and the other four can stay here and watch the rest?"

"F-fine," Pearl didn't sound sure about the idea, but nodded anyway. "I'm staying here."

"So am I," Red raised his hand.

"Me, too," Ruby said.

No one else spoke up. Green looked at who was left.

"I'm going," the Trainer said. "I'm bringing Gold and Bill with me."

"What?" Silver said. "Why should I stay?"

"Please, just don't argue," Green told the Exchanger. "We'll be right back, we're just gonna go look around real quick." Silver gritted his teeth, but decided not to push it.

"Be careful," Pearl said.

"Will do," Gold said, and him, Green, and Bill left the room.

The trio slowly began making their way down the hallway. Green had the idea to have Bill watched beside them and Gold walk backward to watch behind them so that no one could sneak up and attack them.

That worked out well for a few minutes. Then, the lights shut off for the second time that night.

"Aww, no way!" Gold panicked. "What now?"

"Don' worry!" Bill fiddled through his back pocket. "I foun' this flashligh' in the kitchen earlier!" He quickly turned it on and shone it on Green and Gold. "I figger' this migh' happen again, so I swiped it!"

"Yeah, but won't the backup generator turn back on after a few seconds?" Gold asked. They stood still for a few moments and waited for it to happen. But once a minute passed, they grew confused.

"W-what?" Bill stuttered in worry. "Th-they didn' turn back on!"

"Someone must have found a way to shut the generator off," Green said. "They _really _wanted those lights to stay off."

"What now?" Gold asked. "It's dangerous to be wandering around here in the dark!"

"We should at least find out what fell in the hallway so we can determine if there really is someone else running around this mansion or if it fell on its own," Green said. "If someone's bold enough to take on three of us, they can try."

"G-Green, I'm not much of a fighter…" Bill was shaking, the flashlight waving every which direction.

"Should I hold that?" Gold asked, holding out his hand.

"N-no!" Bill shrieked. "I feel better protected wit' this wit' me!"

"Okay, okay!" Gold waved his hands. "Well, let's keep looking…"

The trio stayed relatively close to one another, since Bill was the only source of light they had. They walked in silence for a few minutes, beginning to wonder how long this hallway really was.

"Man, I didn' realize how long the first floor hallway was…" Bill sighed. "It's neverendin'…"

"Ah!" Green suddenly fell to the floor.

"Green?" Gold gasped, and Bill immediately swung the flashlight toward the floor.

"Oww…" Green rubbed his head. "I stepped on something…" Gold and Bill knelt down, shining the light toward Green's feet. He had stepped on broken pieces of a vase.

"I think this is what fell," Gold examined the vase. "I can't believe we heard it crash from all the way down the hallway…"

"Where di' it fall from?" Bill looked up, shining the flashlight against the wall trying to find the source. "Hey, I thin' there's a shelf up there. But that's pretty high up…"

"Hey, do you hear that?" Gold asked.

"Argh!" Green cried out in pain.

"Huh? Green?" Gold looked around frantically. "Bill, shine the light down here!"

"Ah, okay!" Bill turned the light downward and gasped at what he saw.

"G-Green!" Gold shouted. "N-no!"

Green lay dead, a knife stuck in his back.

"Oh my Arceus!" Gold's eye's widened. "H-how? I was right here!"

"D-does that mean the killer is close?" Bill shone the light every which direction, freaking out. "W-what do we do?"

"We have to go back to Mr. Berlitz's room!" Gold stood up. "Now!" He grabbed Bill's wrist and sprinted down the hallway back toward the bedroom. Bill could hardly keep up, he kept stumbling over his feet. "C'mon, Bill!"

"S-sorry!" Bill huffed. Gold and Bill kept running, reaching the bedroom pretty quickly. They burst into the room, slammed the door shut, and locked the door.

"Bill? Gold?" Red, Silver, Ruby, and Pearl rushed to Bill and Gold's side, the latter two having collapsed onto the floor trying to catch their breath. Having slammed the door stirred those who were still asleep, a few of them sitting up and trying to figure out what was going on.

"Wait, where's Green?" Red asked. Gold was having a hard time looking him in the eyes.

"R-Red," the Breeder huffed. "G-Green is…dead…"

* * *

**WHY DID YOU LEAVE THE ROOM, DUMBASSES?**

**Oh, wait, I'm writing the story. :P**

**Don't you ever read mysteries or watch horror movies where it's the obvious choice that they should stay in one place together, but then something or another lures them out of the room? That always makes me mad.**

**But then I realized that the story can't progress if they all stay in one place.**

**This is difficult. THERE ARE STILL TWELVE PEOPLE LEFT, AHH!**

**~Midori**


	9. Yellow and the Delicious Rice

**Chapter Nine: Yellow and the Delicious Rice**

No one in the room said anything. Maybe everyone was just so used to dying every half an hour that no one was surprised anymore.

Yellow began to tear up and covered her eyes. Platinum rubbed her back and frowned.

"H-how?" Red asked. "Weren't the three of you together?"

"Yeah, but Green tripped over the vase that fell over," Gold explained. "And we heard something and then…I don't know! It was too dark! I don't know what happened!" He held his hands to his head in frustration.

"Does that mean that there _is _someone else in the house?" Ruby questioned.

"I'm abou' to lose my mind…" Bill shook his head.

"We need to get the hell out of here," Pearl said.

"Not in this weather," Cheren glanced out the window at the raging blizzard outside.

"Have we figured out why we haven't been able to get ahold of the police yet?" Wally asked.

Platinum frowned. "I've tried more than ten times. No one is answering. I can try again, but it's probably futile."

"Wait…" Silver put his hand on his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Is it just that the blizzard has cut the power lines or that the phone rings and no one answers it?"

Platinum's eyes widened. "Um, the phone continues to ring…"

Everyone glanced at one another in confusion and shock. Something was off. _Very _off.

"That would mean that no one is there!" Diamond said.

"But someone is always at the police station," White said. "They can't just not have someone there."

"But the thing is, I even tried getting ahold of Looker," Platinum sullenly said. "Even if he doesn't answer his phone immediately, he normally gets back to me pretty quickly. Especially if I had to call him in the middle of the night."

"This is wrong," Cheren said. "That must mean that something happened at the police station."

"Well, I'm pretty sure this blizzard would prevent them from even being able to help us out," Yellow frowned.

"This is really bad," Red said. "We can't just stay here! These killers are picking us off one by one!"

"We're all tired, and I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting pretty hungry…" Diamond admitted, holding his stomach.

"Diamond, you're always hungry," Pearl said.

"I'm kinda hungry, too," Gold said. "It's been several hours since we've eaten anything."

"Aren't all the butlers gone, though?" White asked.

"Yes," Platinum said. "I sent them home because it was Christmas Eve. I figured we could handle ourselves for a night."

"We don't need to worry about that," Ruby patted Diamond's shoulder. "We have an expert chef right here!"

"Is that a good idea, though?" Red asked. "To have him cook for us? What if Diamond is one of the killers? He could easily poison our food!"

"We'll just have to have a few of us watch him very closely," Pearl shrugged. "I don't want to have to feel like I can't trust Diamond, but if it's what we have to do…"

Diamond shook his head. "No, that's fine. I understand. Let's bring some pillows and blankets and make our way to the kitchen. We might as well get comfortable; we might be in there awhile."

* * *

On Diamond's suggestion, everyone lined up and held hands with one another, to prevent another Green accident from occurring. Bill led the group with his flashlight, and they all made it safely to the kitchen.

"Wait!" Silver said after the locked all the doors to the kitchen. "We're in the kitchen. We should check for knifes and any other silverware that could harm us."

"We normally keep our butcher knifes on top of the refrigerator," Platinum said, having Bill shine the light on the fridge. Platinum reached for the wooden box the knives were kept in, but gasped when she noticed none of them were in there.

"What?" Cheren checked the box again. "How many knives were in here?"

"I don't know," Platinum shook her head. "Maybe about fifteen to twenty?"

"I'm guessing the killer took them ahead of time and has been using them to kill our friends," Red pointed out.

"Yeah, but if that was the case, wouldn't the rest still be on the killer's body?" Gold said. "Do we need to do some kinda strip search?"

"I'm pretty sure the girls would have a hard time hiding a bunch of knives in their dresses," Silver glanced at Yellow, White and Platinum.

"I mean, if we absolutely had to, I'm sure we could show you that we don't have any on us…" White blushed. "But I hope we don't have to resort to that…"

The boys nervously glanced at one another. No one wanted to be the pervert in this situation.

"Maybe that won't be necessary…" Pearl sweatdropped.

"Well, most of the boys have already taken off their blazers," Platinum said. "Honestly, I'm pretty positive that it would difficult to hide so many knives…"

"Besides, we're all right here," Silver said. "If anyone were to up and stab one of us, the rest of us would obviously figure out who the killer is."

"True," Bill said.

"Why don't we go ahead and start cooking?" Diamond began to roll up his sleeves. "Anyone want to help out?"

"I will," Yellow raised her hand.

"I can help, too," Ruby stretched out his arms.

The group began looking through the cupboards and cabinets, looking for things to eat. Of course the place was packed with food, so they had a wide selection to choose from.

Diamond decided to make some chicken and rice. He didn't want to make anything too extravagant for fear of the idea of possibly finding a way to poison the food, just in case worse came to worse and someone actually tried it. Yellow prepared the rice while Diamond and Ruby began making the chicken. Cheren, Red and Pearl watched over the three chefs while Bill, Gold, Silver, Wally, Platinum and White rested in the corner and waited patiently to be fed.

"The food's almost ready!" Diamond announced. "Can I get someone to help out with setting the table?"

"Sure," Silver said, and he, Wally and White stood up and prepared to set the table. Wally got the glasses, White took care of the plates, and Silver handled the silverware. Since the dining room was too wide an area for them to feel comfortable in, the decided to remain in the kitchen. There was a decently sized table near the back of the kitchen, which at most held eight people. Wally, White and Silver set the rest of the dinnerware at the bar-like area by the fridge, which conveniently seated four.

"Okay, food's ready, guys!" Ruby called out. The group grabbed random plates and each served themselves platefuls of warm chicken and rice. There was plenty for everyone. The girls and Wally sat in the bar area while the other boys sat at the table.

"Wow, this is really good!" White said after trying both the rice and chicken.

"Thanks," Yellow said. "But Diamond's the master chef!"

"Yeah, but you're the one who made the rice by yourself," Diamond praised her, and Yellow giggled.

"T-thanks, Diamond," she said.

The group didn't talk much amongst themselves. There wasn't much to say. They were eating while eight of their friends were dead and scattered around the mansion. No one tried to think about it and did their best to keep their food down.

Ten minutes later, most everyone was finished eating.

"Yum, that was so good," Pearl said as he rubbed his stomach. "I'm full."

"Yeah," Bill said. "That was really good food!"

Gold glanced at Red, noticing that he hadn't eaten much of his rice. Actually, he had some pieces of chicken left, too. "Red, why aren't you eating?"

"…"

Gold looked at him, noticing that he was staring straight ahead with a look of horror on his face. "Red, are you okay?"

Red clenched his teeth and grabbed his shirt, clenching his fist near his chest. He huffed loudly like he was trying to say something, but leaned forward and bashed his head on the table instead.

"R-Red?" Gold jumped up, and the rest of the table turned toward the Battler. Red didn't raise his head.

"Oh, Arceus, no," Bill rushed to Red's side. "Don' tell me—!"

"What's going on?" Yellow turned around and asked, but suddenly the plates on her counter clanked loudly. She spun back around and noticed Platinum had her head on the counter. "Platinum?" Yellow shook her shoulder. "Hey, Platinum?"

"Platinum?" Pearl heard Yellow calling out to her and began to sprint over to her side when, for a third time, everyone heard the dinnerware rattle as a third head collided with the table. But it didn't stay there, for this person fell out of their chair and onto the floor.

"Cheren!" Ruby jumped up, as he had been sitting next the spectacled boy.

"W-what's goin' on?" Bill asked, trying to shake Red.

"I-I don't know! Yellow panicked, not sure whether to shake Platinum or not.

"Arceus, please don't tell me…" Gold said, kneeling down next to Cheren and placing his fingers on Cheren's throat.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked the Breeder. Gold removed his fingers from Cheren's neck and sighed.

"Guys," Gold said solemnly as he stood up and faced the group. "I think that Red, Platinum and Cheren have been poisoned."

* * *

**Another method of killing! Finally! :O**

**So, were they really poisoned? And if so, how? So many more questions for you to go crazy over! :P**

**Hoping to wrap this story up pretty soon. But there are still nine people left, so time to begin the multiple killings at once! Yay!**

…**Wait. IT'S HARD TO KILL PEOPLE OFF! ;_;**

**WAAAAAHHHHHH!**

**~Midori**


	10. Ruby and the Awful Tumble Downstairs

**Chapter Ten: Ruby and the Awful Tumble Down the Stairs**

"N-no!" White's face turned pale as she stared at Cheren's dead body. "Why? WHY?"

"Poisoned?" Ruby asked. " Does that mean…" he glanced over at the pot of rice and the large plate with the remaining pieces of chicken.

"We didn't poison the food!" Diamond yelled.

"No way!" Yellow said, rushing over to the pot.

"Don' touch anythin'!" Bill yelled at the Healer. "Even if the rice isn't poisoned, maybe the pot is!"

"He's right," Pearl said. "No one touch anything else. Utensils, food, nothing."

Everyone stood still for a moment, not knowing what to do. Everyone had finished eating, so would there be another victim?

"I-I think if we were poisoned, we would have already collapsed," Wally pointed out.

"Yeah," Silver said. "Red, Platinum and Cheren all fell over at the same time. It's already been a few minutes. I don't think anyone else has ingested any poison."

"Are we so sure that they've actually been poisoned, though?" Gold asked.

"It's our only guess right now," Pearl kneeled down next to Red and examined his face. "He's drooling. I'm assuming the three of them have taken poison."

"But how did they get poison and neither of us did?" Yellow asked.

"Maybe they weren't specifically targeted," Ruby said. "Maybe they found a way to poison something else that wasn't the food. That means any of us could have been victims…"

"There's also a chance that only traces of the food was poisoned…" Gold said, turning to face Diamond, Ruby and Yellow, who were standing together.

"Gold, we don't have any proof that they did anything to the food," Silver said. "We can't keep accusing one another. There's only nine of us left."

"And any one of us is the murderer…" White said. The room fell deathly silent.

"W-well…" Bill finally broke the awkward silence. "What do we do now?"

"I don't even think there's a single safe place in this mansion," Diamond said, fidgeting with his tie.

"That's because the killer is among us," Pearl crossed his arms, glancing between the remaining eight people beside himself.

"Well, what are we going to do?" White asked. "Stand here and stare at each other until this blizzard passes?"

"I don't want to stay in here next to three of our friends' dead bodies…" Yellow slowly glanced at Red's dead body and turned away, throwing her face into Ruby's shirt. Ruby hugged her.

"I don' either," Bill said. "Let's jus' go find another room to rest in. Lock the doors and not leave the room until mornin'. So if anyone has to use the bathroom, we better all go as a group now."

Everyone nodded in agreement. They all linked hands, deciding to walk in pairs again. Bill and White lead the group together with Bill's flashlight, followed by Diamond and Wally, Silver and Pearl, and Yellow and Gold each held Ruby's hand. They made their way out of the kitchen and began walking.

"Where should we go?" Gold asked.

"Well, downstairs doesn't seem to be working well for us," White said. "Why don't we go to the third floor and find a room up there? My room should be okay."

"That sounds fine," Diamond said. "We can just use the bathroom in her room if we need to go."

They found the south stairwell and began making their way up. The only sounds they could hear were their anxious heavy breathing and the creaking of the stairs…

_SHRIEK!_

The group paused and began to turn around to face the giant window behind them on the stairwell to the second floor.

"What was tha—_oh my Mew, Ruby!_" Yellow screamed, noticing her grip on Ruby's hand was gone while he fell backward down the stairs. Silver had apparently let go as well, but he tried to reach out to catch Ruby before he went crashing down.

"Ruby!" Silver missed and they watched in horror as he harshly rolled down the stairs and smashed his head into the floor at the bottom. White screamed and the remaining group of eight rushed down the stairs to Ruby's side.

"R-Ruby!" Wally cried, afraid to touch Ruby and try to shake him awake. If he had a concussion, that would be the worst thing to do.

Bill shined the flashlight on Ruby's face and noticed a trail of blood gushing from the back of his head.

"Oh my Arceus!" Pearl gasped.

"W-what happened?" Diamond asked, glancing at Yellow and Silver. "Weren't you guys holding his hand? How did he fall?"

"H-his grip slipped from my hand!" Yellow said. "I don't know what happened!"

"Maybe that shriek startled him and he missed his footing on the stairs," Silver looked toward the window.

"What was that noise, anyway?" Gold asked, glancing out the window as well.

"I don' know, but…" Bill rested his head on Ruby's chest, then checked his wrist for a pulse. "Ruby's not breathin'…"

"What?" Wally began to tear up. "S-someone do something!"

"I don't think we can!" Pearl said, beginning to panic. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Ruby's not dead!" Wally yelled. "He can't be dead!"

"It was a long fall…" Diamond examined the stairs. "And he did hit his head pretty hard…"

Wally burst into tears and hugged Ruby's body. "R-Ruby…"

"I can't believe he's gone, just like that…" Gold said. "But…was this an accident?" He turned to Yellow and Silver, and suddenly all eyes were on them.

"W-what?" Yellow gasped.

"You can't be serious," Silver said. "He _fell_!"

"We were holding onto his hand and suddenly he let go!" Yellow explained. "We didn't push him!"

"Okay, okay!" Bill waved his hands. "Let's not figh' about this! We need to be careful. I don' know what tha' shriek was, but we need to focus. We…we can' do anythin' about Ruby. He's already gone. Let's hurry and get to White's room, okay?" Bill patted Wally's shoulders and Wally wiped his eyes.

"O-okay…" the green-haired boy reluctantly agreed.

The group decided to not hold hands anymore while making their way up the stairs. They tread very slowly, making sure not to accidentally miss a step.

They finally reached the third floor and rushed into White and Bianca's room. White walked in last, nearly slamming the door and locking it behind them.

"There," White huffed, breathing a sigh of relief. "Now we don't have any reason to leave again."

Yellow and Wally collapsed onto the large bed and rested their eyes. Both were exhausted, but neither wanted to fall asleep. The numbers in the group were dwindling, and one of them _had _to be the murderer. At worst, there were _two _killers among them.

White went to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. The rest of the group sat in silence for a few minutes, each nearly contemplating the same thing. No one said anything for quite some time, until Wally finally spoke up after White exited the bathroom.

"Y'know, nearly all of us can be accused of being the murderer."

Everyone glanced over at him, but he didn't notice. He was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I could be accused of killing Emerald and the nurse, Gold could have killed Sapphire, Crystal and Lyra, Yellow and Diamond could have killed Red, Platinum, and Cheren, Bill could have murdered Green, Silver could have thrown Ruby down the stairs, Pearl or White may have killed Black… All of us could have killed any of our friends. Maybe we're all murderers…"

Bill frowned. "I hate to admit it, but…Wally's righ'…"

Gold suddenly stood up. "I have to use the bathroom." He walked over to the bathroom door and walked in, closing it behind him. A latching sound was heard after that.

"We can't trust anyone…" White said. "This is awful…"

"Twelve of our friends are dead," Diamond said. "Why is this even happening? What happened to enjoying a birthday and Christmas together?"

"I don't know, Diamond…" Pearl said. "I don't know…"

The group heard the toilet flush and the sink turn on from in the bathroom. A minute later, Gold walked out.

"Does anyone else have to go?" the Breeder asked. Bill raised his hand.

"I do," Bill stood up from sitting on the floor and entered the bathroom, closing the door but not locking it behind him.

"But I'm still confused about something," Yellow continued. "What was the crashing noise that we heard from Platinum's father's room? The one that Green, Gold and Bill investigated and got…Green killed…"

"It was a vase that fell off of a high shelf," Gold said.

"But how did it fall?" Yellow asked. "Was there someone else in the hallway?"

"We were all in that room together," Silver said. "But I doubt there was some way it fell on it's own. Something had to have knocked it over."

"But it was pretty high up on the wall…" Gold said. "I would have had to have jumped to reach it."

"And what about that screech we heard not that long ago?" Yellow questioned. "Where did that even come from?"

"Well, we _did _all look toward the window," White said, glancing at the giant window in her room. "Was it something from outside?"

Yellow pondered for a moment. "You know, it did sound very familiar…"

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked.

"It kinda…sound like…"

_Thunk!_

"Huh?" Silver glanced over toward the bathroom door, as he was sitting the closest to it. "What was that?"

"Bill?" Pearl stood up and walked over to the door. He knocked a few times. "Bill? Are you okay in there?"

No response.

"Uh-oh," the rest of the group stood up as Pearl gasped. They all surrounded the door. "Bill? What's wrong?"

Silence.

"Open the door!" Wally demanded.

"Are you sure?" Pearl grabbed the doorknob but didn't turn it, looking back at the group for confirmation.

"Yes!" Gold urged and Pearl twisted the knob, throwing the door open. Pearl stumbled in, followed by Gold and the others and stared wide-eyed at what he saw.

Bill was lying face down on the white tiled floor. There wasn't any blood to be seen.

"Bill!" Pearl knelt down and rolled him over. "Are you okay?"

"Is he…dead?" White asked, not sure what was going on.

"I don't…" Pearl trailed off, checking Bill's pulse from his neck and then his wrist. "N-nothing!"

"B-but how?" Yellow asked. "What happened to him?"

"I-I'm not sure!" Pearl examined Bill's body carefully, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "I don't understand! He was just alive a minute ago!"

"This isn't making any sense," Silver said, standing next to Pearl. "Are you sure he's really dead?"

"Check for yourself!" Pearl said, allowing Silver to check for any trace of a heartbeat from Bill.

"…Pearl's right. He _is _dead…" Silver said.

"What?" Gold's eyes widened. "How is that possible?"

"Wait a minute," Diamond bent over to inspect Bill's face. "His face is wet."

"Was he washing his face?" Wally wondered aloud, checking the sink for soap. He spotted a blue bar of soap near the faucet. "The soap's wet."

"Don't touch it!" Silver yelled. "Bill's hands are wet, too. I think there's something deadly on that soap."

The group gasped. "Y'mean, like poison or something?" Wally asked.

"Maybe," Silver said. "If Bill washed his face, some may have gotten on his lips. And if he licked his lips, well…"

"But how did poison get on the soap?" Yellow asked, then she slightly squeaked in realization. She, along with Silver, Wally, Diamond and Pearl turned to face White and Gold, the only two people who entered the bathroom before Bill…

* * *

**OH SNAP! :O**

**Have we finally discovered who our killer(s) is/are? If so, was Ruby's death just an accident?**

**What do you guys think? Only seven people left! Oh, the suspense is killing me! No pun intended. :P**

**~Midori**


	11. White and the Tearful Blame Game

**Chapter Eleven: White and the Tearful Blame Game**

"W-what?" White gasped as everyone but Gold stared at the two of them. Gold gritted his teeth.

"It wasn't me!" Gold held up his hands. "And I washed my hands with that soap! My hands could have poison on them!"

"Well, don't touch anything else!" Silver demanded. "We'll have to go get soap from another room and wash it off."

"But…White…" Yellow frowned at White. White waved her hands frantically.

"It wasn't me, I swear!" she panicked. "I could have poison on my hands!"

"But this is yours and Bianca's room!" Pearl pointed out. "Maybe you poisoned it earlier and didn't wash your hands!"

"Hold on," Diamond interjected. "If White poisoned the soap earlier, why would she victimize herself by using the bathroom? Regardless, we would still be assuming that she was the murderer."

"Diamond's right," Wally said. "But maybe neither White nor Gold poisoned it and maybe someone else did."

"But White's the one that suggested we hang out in her room," Silver said. "How could the murderer have known to poison the soap in White's room?"

"Gah…" Yellow put her hands to her head. "This is all so confusing…"

"Or maybe Gold just did it," Wally said. "What's to say that he didn't just leave the poison on his hands?"

"What?" Gold yelled. "I can't believe you would say that!"

"Look, there's no way of knowing right now," Pearl said, crossing his arms. "For all we know, the murderer could have found a way to poison all the soap bars in the house."

"What?" White screeched. "How am I supposed to wash my hands, then?"

"We don't know that for sure," Yellow said.

"But we don't know if it's not true, either!" Diamond said, shivering. "Everything in this house could be dangerous!"

"Well, we were supposed to stay in here and not move," Silver said, "but if Gold and White have poison on their hands and they get nervous and bite their hands or touch something else…"

"Wah…" White held out her hands and tried not to cry. "I have to get this off!"

"Me too," Gold said, holding out his hands as far out in front of him as he could. "I'm not taking any chances."

"Actually, I think Platinum keeps new bars of soap and other toiletries under every bathroom sink," Diamond said. He glanced over at Bill's body and the sink next to him. "I wouldn't trust this sink, though…"

"Black and Cheren's room is next door," Yellow said. "I think Gold and White should take a bar of soap each, wash their hands as best as they can, and discard the soap when they're done."

"That sounds reasonable," Pearl said. "Let's go."

The group of seven walked out of White and Bianca's room and only had to take a few steps before arriving at Black and Cheren's room. Pearl, Diamond and Silver watched White and Gold carefully so that they wouldn't touch anything. Yellow turned the doorknob and they entered the room. Everyone made a face as Yellow turned on the light, for there were clothes scattered everywhere.

"Seriously, Black?" White narrowed her eyes and wanted to facepalm, but stopped herself.

"He wasn't even in here that long and he made a mess already?" Wally stepped over the clothes to make his way to the bed.

"That's Black for you," Gold said. "He's worse than me."

"Okay," Pearl made his way to the bathroom and opened the door. "White, you go first. I'll help unwrap the soap for you, but we should keep the door open, just as a precaution."

"I understand," White nodded. Pearl reached under the sink and grabbed two unopened bars of soap. He unwrapped one of them and placed it into White's hand. He turned on the sink and let White run her hands under it, spending over a minute making sure she thoroughly washed her hands.

"I don't think I've ever been so determined to get my hands clean in my life," any other time that could have been taken as a joke, but Pearl knew that White was being serious. She still looked panicked as she tossed the soap in the trash can next to the sink and continued running her hands under the warm water.

"Okay," White said. "I think I'm done." Pearl handed her a few papers towels that were under the sink as well, telling her it would be better safe then sorry to use those instead of a regular towel. She agreed as she wiped her hands off and threw them away.

"Okay, Gold," Pearl began unwrapping the next bar. "You're up." He handed the Breeder the soap and he repeated the process just as White had. When he was done, Pearl turned off the water and handed him the paper towels.

"All finished," Gold said as he and Pearl walked out of the bathroom. "I hope no one has to use the bathroom any time soon."

"I don't think any of us are going to _move_ for the next few hours," Diamond said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Everyone sat still for an indeterminate amount of time. Wally, White and Yellow sat on the bed while Gold, Silver, Diamond and Pearl sat on the floor. Diamond and Pearl were sitting by the main door while Gold and Silver sat by the bathroom. White had the urge to clean the messy room, but she felt that anything she did could automatically make everyone accuse her of being the murderer so she chose not to. But when Diamond suddenly got up and began picking up Black's discarded clothes, White decided to hop off the bed and help. Anything to help pass the time.

"Ugh…" Gold finally spoke up after almost a half an hour of silence. "What time is it?"

Pearl glanced at his Pokétch. "Almost four-thirty in the morning."

"Really?" Yellow raised an eyebrow. "Man, time has been going so slow…"

"Merry freaking Christmas, everyone…" Gold crossed his arms and his legs. Suddenly, Silver's eyes widened next to him and he jumped. "What's wrong, Silver?"

"Did you hear that?" Silver said.

"No?" Gold shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"I swear I just heard something in the hallway," Silver stood up and Gold jumped to his feet.

"Hold on, Silver," Gold held out his hands. "What are you going to do?"

"See if there's something out there!"

"No, Silver!" Wally yelled. "Don't! We need to stay in here!"

"He's right," Gold said. "Here, let me just peek out into the hallway and see if I see anything…" He walked over to the door and slowly opened it, peeking his head out. "Is there anyone there?"

"HELP!" a familiar voice suddenly called out, echoing down the hallway. Yellow perked up.

"R-Red?!" she gasped and flew off the bed, rushing toward the door. Diamond quickly jumped in her way.

"Y-Yellow, stop!" he threw his arms around her to prevent her from moving. Everyone else was making strange faces and Gold came back into the room, still holding the door open.

"Did you hear that?" he asked. "Didn't that sound like Red?"

"But Red's dead!" Pearl said. "He was poisoned! Is there a chance he was still breathing and we didn't know it?"

"Diamond, get off of me!" Yellow struggled in Diamond's arms until she wiggled her way free. "RED!" She ran to the door and nearly shoved Gold out of her way. She threw the door open and ran out of the room.

"Yellow, stop!" Gold yelled as he ran after her.

"Dammit, Yellow, Gold!" Pearl shouted and he and Diamond went after the Healer and the Breeder.

All of their footsteps resonated down the hallway and they could all hear Yellow calling for Red up ahead. Then suddenly, her voice was quiet. The _manzai_ boys quickened their pace and finally found Gold and Yellow at the end of the hallway. Yellow was lying facedown on the floor while Gold was on his bottom scooting backward from the Healer. Diamond and Pearl gasped when they noticed there was a knife in the back of Yellow's head.

"W-wha—?" Diamond stuttered as he pointed at Yellow. "G-Gold, did you?"

"N-no!" He turned around to face them, his face turning pale. "I-I saw…I saw Red! He just killed her and ran downstairs!"

"What?" Pearl couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But Red is dead!"

"Apparently he faked his death! Because I just watched him stab Yellow!" Gold yelled. Diamond and Pearl glanced at each other, not knowing what to do. So Red was one of the killers all this time? "I'm going after him!" Gold stood up and began making his way down the stairs.

"Gold, no!" Pearl reached out after him, but Diamond threw his arms around Pearl's waist from behind. "Diamond, what are you doing?"

"Pearl, we can't go after him!" Diamond said. "If Red is the killer, Gold's going to get himself killed! We can't get ourselves killed as well!"

"B-but—"

"But nothing!" Diamond said. "We need to go back to Black's room and tell the others!"

Before they could argue about it any more, White and Silver were approaching them.

"Pearl! Diamond!" White said. "Where's Gold and Yellow?"

Diamond and Pearl looked at them with a frown before stepping out of the way. White and Silver gasped as they witnessed Yellow's dead body.

"Y-Yellow!" White ran and knelt down next to her. "W-who—?"

"Gold said that he saw Red kill her…" Pearl said.

"What?" Silver exclaimed. "Where's Gold and Red?"

"We didn't see Red, but Gold went to chase after him," Pearl pointed down the stairs.

"Wait a second," Diamond glanced around White and Silver. "Where's Wally?"

"What?' White spun around. "He was right behind us, I thought. Where did he go?"

Everyone looked amongst themselves before rushing back to Black's room. They gasped in shock when they saw Wally on the bed with his throat slashed. There was much more blood on his polo shirt now, he was practically drenched in it.

"O-oh my—!" White threw her hands over her mouth and turned away. Diamond and Pearl stood there with their mouths hung open.

"How did this happen?" Silver asked, and Pearl clenched his fists.

"That's it!" he yelled, turning to Silver and White. "You three stayed behind while we chased after Gold and Yellow, but now that Wally is dead, the killer _has _to be one of you two!"

"What?" White said. "I didn't do it! I walked out of the room first!"

"I was right behind you!" Silver said. "How could I have done it?"

"And if Yellow was killed while you guys were over here," Diamond said. "That means that there really _are _two killers!"

"But I didn't do it!" White began to tear up. "I can't take this anymore!"

"One of you two is a murderer!" Pearl pointed to Silver and White. "Diamond and I haven't done anything!"

"Neither did we!" Silver said. "Maybe Red somehow came back around from the second floor and killed Wally while White and I were looking for you guys!"

Pearl gritted his teeth. He wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

"B-but what about Gold?" White sniffled as she was crying. "Shouldn't we go find him?"

"But Red's out there killing everyone!" Diamond remarked. "It's not safe!"

"Well, there's four of us and one of him," Silver said. "I'm pretty sure we should be able to fend him off. But Gold's by himself and you know he doesn't think about things. If we don't hurry and find him before Red does, he really will get himself killed."

Everyone looked at one another and decided that they should look for the Breeder. They made their way down the closest set of stairs and did their best to ignore Ruby's body on the way.

"Where should we even begin looking?" Diamond asked.

"We should probably just listen out for any noises," Pearl said. He noticed White was shivering and decided to hold her hand to comfort her.

As they made their way to the first floor, everyone jumped when they heard a loud thud to their right.

"Over there!" Silver pointed down the hallway and they all broke out into a run toward the noise. They started to slow down when they saw someone on the ground.

"Who is it?" Diamond asked as they carefully approached them. They all gasped and Silver cursed as he spotted who it was.

Gold was dead, lying on his back with a knife through his stomach.

* * *

**WHAT'S GOING ON ANYMORE I DON'T EVEN—!**

**Well, this story should be wrapped up in the next two chapters (I'm so excited! It's been so long since I started a story and actually _finished _it!). So does this mean that the killers will finally be revealed next chapter?**

…**Any last guesses? ;D**

**~Midori**


	12. Pearl and the Stunning Revelation

**Wow, guys, seriously. I almost feel bad for driving you guys insane, but at least that means I'm doing a good job at the suspense! Seriously, I love each and every one of you guys and your reviews. And to think I had originally intended for this to be a one-shot. Crazy, right?**

**Anyway, this chapter is short, but it was difficult to try to make longer so I left it as is. So…did you guess the murderers right?**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Pearl and the Stunning Revelation**

"G-Gold…!" Silver couldn't decide whether to stand still or kneel down next to his best friend. It was already obvious that he was dead; no point in checking his pulse.

"Oh…oh my Arceus…" Pearl gasped. "Guys, this means…that Red really is alive! And he's killed everyone!"

"B-but where did he go?" Diamond asked, glancing around in the dim hallway. "Are we in danger?"

"We should stick close together!" Silver turned around and stepped back, backing into Pearl. "He can't catch us off guard if we're looking from all angles!"

"H-he's right!" White agreed, standing next to him. "Let's form a circle!"

The four of them stood in a circle facing outward so that they could see all around them.

"Well, what do we do now?" Diamond asked, feeling completely uneasy. "There may be four of us, but none of us have anything to fight him off!"

"But is he really going to try to attack all four of us at once?" Silver continued glancing around.

"W-we have to stop him!" White said, trying to stay confident but she was shivering uncontrollably. "I don't want to die!"

"The rest of our friends are gone…" Pearl gritted his teeth. "What the hell are we even going to do once we get out of here?!"

"Well, we need to find a way to get there first!" Silver said.

"I-I…" White stuttered. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" She suddenly broke from the group and ran off down the hallway.

"No, White, stop!" Silver yelled and began sprinting after her. "Where are you going?"

"I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" she screamed as loud as possible. Silver was running as fast as he could, but White must have been beyond determined to escape for she was running much faster.

"Stop yelling! Red will hear you!" Silver said.

Pearl and Diamond could hear them, but they didn't know what to do. Do they run after them or find somewhere to hide? They hated to just leave White and Silver to themselves, but the numbers were dwindling. Maybe it was time to begin fending for themselves.

"Diamond…" Pearl looked at his best friend. "W-what do we—?"

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Pearl was cut off by a high-piercing scream from White. He hesitated, but Diamond quickly made the decision for him.

"We have to see if she's okay!" Diamond grabbed Pearl's hand and began running toward the scream. "If Red is there, we need to take him down!"

"B-but how?" Pearl asked. He began to panic. How could they fight someone with a knife?

"I don't know, but we'll think of—" Diamond suddenly paused, slowing to a stop. Pearl followed his lead and noticed Silver standing there. White was on the floor sitting up against the wall with her throat slashed.

"S-Silver!" Pearl walked up to him. "What happened?"

"I was chasing her, and…" Silver was shaking, put his hands to his face. "She ran right into Red… I couldn't stop him!"

"Where did he go?" Diamond asked.

"Back down the hallway!" Silver pointed. "We have to go after him!" He started off down the hallway.

"C'mon!" Diamond began running after Silver, but paused when he noticed Pearl didn't move. "Pearl, what are you doing? Let's go!"

"O-okay…" he shook his head and him and Diamond began following Silver.

Pearl began to sweat. Not because he was exhausted from running, but because of something else. He started to piece together all that had been happening, all throughout the mansion. So many things didn't make sense, but as he was running…he began having doubts. Doubts as to who they were _really _chasing.

And to who the murderer really was.

He glanced up and noticed that they were reaching the end of the hallway where Platinum's room was. In that room was where they had found Blue's body. Silver slowed to a stop, and Diamond and Pearl followed suit.

"W-where…" Silver struggled to catch his breath. "Where the hell did he go?"

"I didn't know Red could run so fast," Diamond huffed. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know…" Silver looked around. "I would say let's keep going, but maybe we should find a weapon or something first."

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea," Diamond glanced at Pearl, who looked completely pale. He wasn't even looking toward him or Silver. "Pearl, are you all right?"

Pearl stared into Platinum's room, as the door was wide open. "D-Diamond…"

"What?" he asked, completely confused.

"…Do you noticed something odd?" Pearl's voice was completely deadpan. Diamond looked over his shoulder.

"What is it?"

"…What's missing?"

Diamond stared at a long time before he realized what his friend was referring to. He gasped. "D-didn't we find Blue here? Where's her bod—?" He was suddenly cut off and Pearl spun around.

"Diamo—?" he paused, his breath literally escaping him. Diamond was wide-eyed and blood was dripping from his mouth.

"P-Pearl…" he coughed up a little more blood and fell forward, hitting the ground hard. Pearl watched his body fall as he noticed the bloody stab wound in his back. He slowly glanced up, his eyes growing wider as he spotted who had just stabbed his best friend.

"Hello, Pearl. So you were the last survivor, huh? I hope you're proud of yourself. Your prize is living just a little bit longer for us to tell you why we decided to murder everyone!"

Blue waved the bloody knife in one hand while she brushed some stray strands of hair off of her shoulder. Silver stood behind her with his arms crossed.


	13. The Murderers and their Sinister Motive

**Well, this is it! The final chapter. How Blue and Silver pulled off this stunt and why.**

* * *

**Final Chapter: The Murderers and their Sinister Motive**

Pearl fell to the floor, backing up as far as he could into the wall. His best friend was dead in front of him, and the rest of his friends were dead, scattered about the mansion. But he couldn't focus on that. He was staring in horror at Blue and Silver, his mind reeling many different things. How could they do this? Why did they do this? Did he really only have a few more minutes to live before they decided to kill him?

He thought about getting up and running, running as fast as he could. He knew he could outrun them—he _was _the fastest in their group, after all—but where would he run? The blizzard was still as horrendous as ever. Even if he found his way outside, he would probably end up freezing to death moments later.

Instead, his body was paralyzed. He couldn't move even if he wanted to. He was the last one alive. Even if they killed him, he had to know why they did this.

"Come on, Pearl!" Blue chuckled, and Pearl's blood ran cold. "At least look a little more excited to see me!" She swung the knife in front of her Diamond's blood splattering onto his cheeks. He gritted his teeth, but not in anger. He didn't even know which emotion to feel. Sadness? Agony? Fear? Maybe all of them.

Uncontrollable tears rolled down from Pearl's eyes, salty residue mixing in with blood. He couldn't bother to wipe them away; his arms were numb anyway.

He spotted Silver behind her, now smirking as Blue continued to giggle. Pearl had so many things he wanted to say—possibly yell if anything—but he could only manage to barely squeak out the first words that came to his mind.

"W-why… Why did…you do…this…?"

Blue smirked wider and Pearl wondered how that was even possibly. She looked like a demented clown with that freaky smile. She was psychotic, she had to be. "Would you really like to know? Why don't I tell you…" She put the knife to her lips coyly and Pearl almost had the urge to barf. When she made the decision to shove it into the wall next to her, her lips were coated in Diamond's blood.

"But let's first start with _how _we pulled all of this off. Killing off seventeen people took a lot more planning than we thought. We sure had to improvise some. Didn't we, Silver?" she looked over to her junior, who nodded and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Okay, so Sapphire was our first victim, right?" Blue turned to Silver and asked like she had no clue. Pearl lowered his eyebrows. He knew that she knew the exact order in how they killed them and he despised how much she was enjoying explaining how she did it.

"I took care of her," Blue said, putting her hands on her hips. "We were all heading back to our rooms, but she had lingered in her room for awhile. While walking with Yellow, she said she had to use the bathroom so I told her I would catch up with her later. I walked in Sapphire's room and she told me she was planning to visit Wally. But before she had a chance to leave, I slipped a knife out from under my jacket sleeve and slashed her in the back. Oh, the kill was thrilling!" She clenched her fists in front of her, looking overly excited. Pearl was extremely disgusted.

"But I wasn't expecting Gold to walk by and witness the whole thing," Blue then perked her lips in a pout. "I had to threaten him with the lives of Crystal and Lyra if he so much as _thought _of telling anybody. Which is why he didn't speak once we came back downstairs. Silver had join us along the way and I had to tell him what happened."

"S-so Gold knew the whole time that the two of you were the killers!" Pearl said, his voice returning to its normal loud self. "Then why didn't you just kill him then?"

"Because we were the only ones who still hadn't returned to the main room," Silver finally spoke up. "If you guys would have discovered both Sapphire and Gold bodies, with us being the last ones in the room we would have both been instantly accused."

Pearl remembered Platinum trying to call Looker and the police. "W-wait, what about the police? Why couldn't Platinum get ahold of anyone? The phones rang, so it's not like the connection was cut off or busy. That meant that no one was answering!"

"Oh, that?" Blue waved her hand. "I redirected the phone numbers of the police station and Looker to my cell phone, which is in my bag on silent."

"What?" Pearl gasped in shock. "H-how?"

"I've spent a lot of time with Bill. Y'know, technology nerd. Aaand…I learned some things relating to electronics. It took some time, but I managed it." Blue smiled at her accomplishment. Pearl lowered his head as he continued crying. The tears just wouldn't stop.

"But very good question, Pearl!" Blue said. "It's just too bad you weren't able to play detective a little sooner. Maybe coulda saved some lives."

Pearl tried to not let that get to him. He wasn't as smart as Platinum or Cheren. And even if they were still alive, this revelation may have blown their minds as much as it did his.

"Okay, let's see, who's next…?" she put a finger to her forehead in a thoughtful pose. "Ah! Emerald! And that nurse… I forgot about her."

"I'm the one that murdered the two of them," Silver raised his hand. "I slipped in there and was planning to kill Wally since he was an easy target. But I wasn't expecting Emerald to be in there. So he became the target instead. A quick slash to the back. A quick stab to the nurse. And with leaving Wally alive, he would have been the obvious suspect."

"But Wally wouldn't have been suspected of killing Sapphire!" Pearl said. "He was with Ruby! Asleep!"

"We knew at some point the thought of two killers would have been brought up eventually," Blue said. "We had to continue trading off and trying to focus the blame on others before Silver and I could have been thought up as suspects. Which is why when Yellow wanted to check on Wally, I went off by myself and told her I would catch up. She could have easily been seen as a suspect as well."

Pearl couldn't believe they could let Yellow and Wally of all people become suspects. But he also was still trying to wrap his head around the thought of Blue and Silver killing. He didn't think _any _of his friends were capable of something like this.

"Then the pigtail sisters were next," Blue smiled. "Oh, they were the most fun. Instead of using the bathroom like I told Yellow I was doing, I made my way back to the main room and found Gold, Crystal and Lyra being the only occupants. I rushed in and killed Crystal first, and Gold and Lyra begged me not to kill them. Lyra tried to stop Crystal from bleeding out, but she was already a goner. So while Lyra was vulnerable, I slaughtered her, too. Gold couldn't believe it. I had _lied_ to him, after all." Blue started giggling, and Pearl felt his stomach churn.

"B-but what about Gold?" Pearl asked. He still couldn't understand how Gold could have lasted as long as he did after witnessing three of four murders, not including the nurse.

"Easy," Blue said. "I killed him."

Pearl's eyes widened. How was that possible? Until about a half an hour ago, Gold was alive! Red, Green, Yellow, Bill and Silver had found him in the bathroom after they discovered that he and Blue were missing. Blue couldn't have killed him then!

"I know exactly what you're thinking, Pearl," Blue said. "And yes, I did kill Gold after murdering Crystal and Lyra. I had to; he had seen too much for him to keep it a secret anymore. But I thought up a plan to keep Gold 'alive' and get any possible thought of me being a suspect out of people's heads. I faked my death and posed as Gold."

Pearl couldn't believe how nobody had noticed. So after discovering that Crystal and Lyra were dead, any time they saw Gold…it was Blue _the whole time_?!

"Silver was a good actor, but he hadn't been expecting me to pose as Gold. When he hugged me after finding 'Gold' in the bathroom, I quickly whispered that Gold was dead and he understood immediately that I had to kill him. We took it from there," Blue shrugged.

Pearl gritted his teeth. Blue was the perfect actress. There was no way anybody could have seen that coming.

"As for Gold's body, I'll explain that in a little bit," Blue continued. "Once we regrouped with everyone in the living room, Silver made it apparent that it was urgent that we find 'me'. So when Platinum came up with the idea to separate us with cards, we had to go along with it and hope that we could find a way to kill more people while grouped together."

"The groups ended up better than we thought," Silver said. "Not only were Gold and I separated, but most of the groups of best friends were separated as well, just in case anyone made the assumption that two close friends were working together."

"Which is how killing Black and Bianca worked out perfectly!" Blue cheered. "The power went off at just the right moment! It couldn't have gone any better."

"W-what?" Pearl was confused. "You mean, the power wasn't meant to go off at any particular point in time?"

"Nope!" Blue said. "We set that up in the beginning in the hopes that it would help us with _something_ later on down the line, in case we were having time killing people off. But it ended up working to our best advantage! Silver killed Bianca while I killed Black. We basically just killed whoever we could get to, it didn't really matter who. And we were sure that a backup generator would eventually switch on, so we left the knives in their bodies just in case we couldn't hide them fast enough."

Pearl finally moved his hands in order to clench them tightly. At that moment, _he _could have been the one to die…

"And from then, you and Diamond began thinking of the possibility of your closest friend Platinum being the killer since she was the one that thought of grouping us by the deck of cards and because you thought she was the only one that knew about the backup generator. Oh, it was great. Everyone was losing their mind," Blue said with a huge smile.

Pearl felt disgusted with himself for accusing Platinum. The one person everyone should have been accusing faked her death from the beginning.

"When we made our way to the kitchen after Wally's hacking fit, Silver and I took that chance to swipe some more knives," Blue explained. "We also took that time to start a dispute over who could be the killer. With Gold and Platinum seeming like the most likely to have murdered everyone, we were keeping the accusations off of Silver. Of course, someone would have possibly wondered about Silver's innocence after awhile, so we couldn't ignore accusing him at least for a little bit. If not everyone had been accused at some point, _they _could have ended up being the most likely suspect."

Which is why they had argued in the kitchen. Pearl began to realize that the only time Silver had been accused of being the killer was when 'Gold' said something about it. Blue had been suspected in her absence but was obviously off the hook once they found her 'body'.

"Then came time for some of the group to get some sleep," Blue raised her hand to examine her fingernails. "I figured that would happen at some point, and Silver and I knew that there was no way that everyone was going to sleep at once. And since we were all going to stay together at this point, we were going to have to get creative.

"Then when Platinum suggested going to her room, I knew we were doing good." Blue snapped her fingers.

Platinum's room… Pearl glanced over. That was where everyone discovered Blue's 'body'.

"I'm sure you're just _dying _to know how you guys managed to discover my body when I was right next to you the whole time, right?" Blue laughed hysterically. "Get it? _Dying_? Haha, I'm so funny!"

Pearl cringed. Blue was insane.

"Anyway, after I killed Gold, I dumped him in Platinum's room and spent some time altering his body to look like mine, with some help from my Ditto!" she winked. "Ditty did an awesome job, and nobody suspected a thing! The reason why you guys didn't find 'my' body the first time you searched Platinum's room is because hid Gold's body deep in the closet. When the search party left, Ditto dragged his body out into the middle of the floor and remained there until you guys came back around."

Pearl didn't even think about Pokémon. Everyone had left their Pokémon back at home, save for Green and his Charizard which he had used to get here earlier than everyone else to help with the party. It seems that Blue had her Ditto the whole time.

"Once we all went to Mr. Berlitz's room, we had to find a way to lure out more people to kill," Silver said. "As long as we remained in place in that room, there was no way that we could kill anyone else."

"So in the short moment that Silver was leaning over 'my' body in Platinum's room, he was giving instructions to Ditto," Blue explained.

"Huh?" Pearl raised an eyebrow. "Instructions? For what?"

"Don't you remember the crash that lead to Green, Bill and I to leave the room to check it out?" Blue asked. "That was Ditto. It was instructed to follow us after we left Platinum's room, then find a way to make some kind of noise to get some of us to leave the room."

"So it was Ditto that knocked over the vase…" Pearl said.

"Yep, and it got Green killed!" Blue said. "Silver wanted to tag along, but Green insisted he stay. As long as one of us was going, we could kill either Green or Bill."

"But…the lights switched off again," Pearl remembered freaking out while they were in still in Mr. Berlitz's room. But this time the generator hadn't switched back on. "How did that happen?"

Blue glanced at Silver, and he shrugged. "When I had first set up the Iron Ball gimmick, I didn't know where to find the generator. But when Silver was in there with me when you guys all discovered it, he found the switch the generator and flipped it off," Blue smiled. "After that, the blizzard must have just been on our side!"

Pearl wasn't sure about that answer. What would be the point of turning off the generator if they hadn't planned on cutting the lights again? If Blue was admitting to everything, why not answer him truthfully about it?

"Bill had his stupid flashlight, but I was still able to slip a knife into Green's back," Blue mimicked the motion of stabbing him. "It was easy to convince Bill that someone else was in the hallway with us, so all we had to do was run back to Mr. Berlitz's room."

"Next…was the kitchen," Silver mentioned.

"Ah, yes! The poisonings!" Blue clapped her hands. "I wasn't expecting to use the poison; it's not as fun as stabbing people."

Pearl cringed again. How could Blue have been able to hide all these years that she was a psychopath? Her excitement at killing people was beyond disturbing.

"But when your best friend got hungry, we figured we needed to start dwindling the numbers. There were still ten people left to kill and it was taking just a little more time than we had thought…"

"Blue, you have to admit that you _did _want to take your time," Silver pointed out.

"Yeah," Blue said. "But it would have been morning soon and I wasn't sure if Mr. Berlitz would be home early for Christmas or not.

"But moving on," she waved her hand as she continued. "Silver mentioned checking for silverware, which I said something about a strip search. If anyone actually went with it, we could have easily slipped them somewhere inconspicuously so that we couldn't have been suspected. And Silver could have just pretended to search me so that no one could tell it was really me. But with the boys being embarrassed about the girls being searched, no one went with it anyway."

"We had poison ready in case we absolutely needed to use it," Silver pulled a small bottle containing a purple liquid out of his pocket. "It didn't matter who we killed as long as we had killed a few people."

"Wait…" Pearl thought for a second. "The poison wasn't in the food… You were the one that handled the silverware!"

"That's right!" Blue chuckled. "Silver poisoned three of the forks and set the table those poisoned forks in three random places. We just made sure not to sit in those spots and let the poison do its job."

"In which Platinum got one of the forks…" Pearl recalled seeing the girl he protected die right in front of him. She was gone so fast…"

"Yep! Along with Cheren and Red," Blue pointed out. "And with three people handling the food and another three handling the utensils, it was difficult to tell where the poison came from."

Pearl sat for a moment, trying to remember what came next. His eyes widened. "Ruby…"

"Oh, skipping ahead aren't we?" Blue wriggled her finger. "Someone wants to die quickly, huh?"

"No…" Pearl said. "But I just now realized that when we left the kitchen to go to White's room, Ruby fell down the stairs and bashed his head. But he didn't fall at all, did he?" He glared at Silver. "You pushed him, didn't you?"

Silver smirked. "Sure. Neither him nor Yellow saw it coming. The material the stairs were made of were smooth, but hard. I waited until we were at the top of the stairs then threw his hand back, causing him to slip. If he didn't die, then he would have hit his head long enough to keep him unconscious so that we could easily kill him when we needed."

"Silver did that one all by himself!" Blue perked up. "I hadn't even thought that!"

"But that shriek we heard…" Pearl mentioned. "We were all distracted by that and that's when Ruby tumbled. What was that noise?"

"Oh," Blue rolled her eyes. "You pay too much attention to things. It's not important."

Pearl couldn't understand why she wouldn't answer. She was so enthused about bragging to him about the killings. But she wouldn't answer the question about the lights being cut the second time and now she wouldn't say anything about the shrill noise. What was she hiding?

Wait…she mentioned the blizzard when he asked about the lights. And he was sure that noise had come from outside. Pearl glanced down the hallway, where he could barely see the giant window along the same wall that he was sitting against.

There was something outside that she was avoiding mentioning. Why?

"Silver got to murder _four _people in a row, so it was my turn to get someone!" Blue threw her fist in the air. "So when we got to White's room, _who _poisoned the bar of soap that killed Bill?" She pointed to herself, as if Pearl seriously had no clue who had done it. "Everyone had been nervous, so I figured if I poisoned the soap someone would eventually bite their nails or something. I hadn't expected Bill to wash his face and ingest some of it immediately, so that was a plus. But then it quickly became a minus because I had went to the bathroom right before he did, so that had thrown things off. My only saving grace was that White had went in there as well, plus it was her room."

Pearl knew he was right to accuse 'Gold' of poisoning the soap. But he didn't have a guess of who the other killer was so if he had spoken up, he wouldn't have been able to back up his point. Everyone had been accusing everyone else, so his words would have just sounded like speculation.

"After moving to Black's room for Blue and White to wash their hands, we had to get creative again," Silver said. "So I acted like I heard something in the hallway."

"Which urged me to peek my head out, " Blue said, holding her hand over her eyes as if searching for something.

Pearl's eyes widened. "How did we hear Red's voice? He's obviously still dead!"

"That was me!" Blue said, her voice changing to match Red's. "I'm not only a master of disguise in terms of appearance, I'm also awesome at changing my voice!"

Pearl was shocked. This girl was the perfect criminal.

"So that surely lead Yellow out the door," Blue put her hands back on her hips. "When I chased after her I took that moment to blindside her and kill her, claiming that it had been Red that had really murdered her. And in order to take 'revenge', I chased after our ghostly killer."

"And while you and Diamond were chasing them, White suggested we follow them," Silver explained. "The second she left the room, I quickly lunged at Wally and killed him off. At that point, there were very few people left. If anyone accused me, Blue and I could just quickly kill the rest of you guys off.

"But we got lucky when you guys fell for the Red-is-the-killer ploy," Silver uncrossed his arms, holding out his hands and shrugging. "I mentioned that maybe Red backtracked and killed him. And since 'Gold' took off, you guys figured we should follow him before Red got to him."

"But in truth, I was just pulling out Gold's body from Platinum's room and planting it in the hallway for you guys to discover, although all along it would have been the second time you had seen it," Blue said. "And at this point, I'm sure you know the rest."

Pearl waited a moment before piecing together the rest. "White ran down the hallway and when Silver caught up to her, he killed her. And then when we reached Platinum's room and noticed that Blue's body wasn't there…" he closed his eyes tightly, trying to forget that moment when Diamond's sentence was cut off by a knife in his back. He couldn't believe he was still crying; he figured his tears would have finally dried up by now.

"And that's that!" Blue raised her hand. "Pretty amazing, huh?"

"…Outside…" Pearl muttered.

"Huh?"

"Outside… The lights going out the second time and the shriek…they came from outside, did they not?"

Blue tapped a finger to her chin before putting her arms behind her head. "You're pretty sharp. I honestly wouldn't have put you up there with Cheren and Green."

"What is it?" Pearl said through gritted teeth. "I want to know!"

"Hmm, okay!" Blue smiled. "Do you remember when we were all sitting in Mr. Berlitz's room and you mentioned the blizzard? Do you remember what you said?"

Pearl blinked. "I-I said something about an Articuno hating us…"

"Bingo!" Blue winked. "Did you know that I used to own all of the Legendary birds at one point in time?"

Pearl didn't answer, but he knew where this was going…

"Well, let's just say they're friends of mine! I may have released them, but I could call on them for whatever I need whenever I need them!" Blue pulled something out of her ear, something that Pearl didn't even notice since it was so small. "Articuno followed me to the Sinnoh region and whipped up this blizzard for me so that no one could escape! And this thing right here," Blue held out the earpiece. "This allowed me to send messages to Articuno from outside! So I instructed it to screw up the power lines and shriek out at that particular moment. Are all of your questions answered yet?"

Pearl sat for a minute before speaking up. They still hadn't answered the most obvious question.

"…Why…? Why would you…do this… What did everyone do to you to deserve this…? Black? Diamond? Wally? _Yellow? _I don't understand… I DON'T GET IT!" he smashed his hand into the ground as hard as he could, not caring how badly it hurt. It would never feel as bad as all of his friends felt as they were being murdered.

Blue smirked as she stepped forward and knelt in front of Pearl, who tried to scoot back but the wall was preventing him from doing so. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small item.

It was a disturbing-looking mask.

"Silver and I used to be children of the Mask of Ice," Blue said. "We were kidnapped and taken away from our homes to do his bidding.

"Silver and I only had each other. There was no depending on anyone else to help save us. We were brutally abused for years until we finally found a way to escape.

"And from then on we promised ourselves three things: never to grow apart, find a way to defeat the Mask of Ice and never to trust _anyone_."

Pearl didn't know much about Blue's backstory, but he didn't care. There was no excuse for killing anybody.

"You think Red, Green and Yellow were my _friends_?" Blue snorted. "What a joke. I used Yellow to find Red because he was a powerful trainer who could help me take him down. I didn't think Silver and I needed help, but we couldn't fight against the Mask of Ice alone.

"Then Gold and Crystal ended up tagging along, and we finally took Pryce down for good. He fell into the Ilex Forest Shrine and was lost forever in time.

"But Silver and I began to worry about our 'friendships' to Red, Green, Yellow, Gold and Crystal. We were able to keep two of our promises, but we couldn't let ourselves lose the last promise.

"We had gotten too close to them. And then more people showed up…Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, White, Cheren… It was becoming too much."

"No, no!" Pearl yelled. "Why? Why couldn't you just let the promise go? We were your _friends_. You could trust us!"

"You were _never _our friends," Blue's face contorted to extreme anger as she threw her hand to Pearl's throat. "And we had to eliminate you _all _before you poisoned us with your wretched _friendships_. In this world, you can trust _no one_, and we were bound to kill you before you could break us!"

Pearl struggled to breathe. Blue's grip was surprisingly strong and Pearl couldn't intake any air. He couldn't believe that the Mask of Ice had hurt them so much that they were completely convinced that if they even _tried _to make friends that they would just destroy them in the end.

"Here." Blue turned around to find Silver handing her the knife that she had stuck in the wall. She threw her mask onto the ground and snatched the knife from him and spun back around to face Pearl, who she was still choking with her other hand.

"Thanks," Blue smiled wickedly, probably the most demented Pearl had ever seen her. "Are you ready to die?"

Pearl didn't want to die. But when he actually thought about it, even if he had a way out of this mess, would he really _want _to live? All of his friends were dead. No more _manzai _with Diamond. No more attempting to make Platinum smile. No more shouting contests with Black. No more drawing Pokémon with Yellow. No more trying to interpret Bill's silly accent. No more yelling at Emerald to stop pissing everywhere.

No more. Ever.

And if he were to make it out of this alive, could _he _ever trust anybody again?

He couldn't let the poison of the Mask of Ice transfer onto him.

"K-kill…me…" Pearl gasped for air. Blue blinked in confusion, her smirk dropping.

"What?"

"J-just…JUST KILL ME ALREADY!" Pearl shouted.

"Just kill him, Blue!" Silver shouted. "Shut him up!"

"Fine!" Blue used her iron grip on Pearl's throat to throw him to the ground face first. He was on his stomach, his head turned to face the dead Diamond next to him. Blue was sitting on his lower back, holding his head still with her hand.

"Time to end this!" she shouted as she gripped the knife tightly in her other hand. "Die, Pearl!"

Time seemed to move in slow motion as Pearl stared at Diamond, his friendship with him flashing through his mind. His friendship with Platinum. Red. Green. Yellow. Bill. Gold. Crystal. Lyra. Ruby. Sapphire. Wally. Emerald. Black. White. Cheren. Bianca.

Even good times he had had with Blue and Silver. He smiled to Diamond.

_I'll see you, Arceus and all of our friends in a minute, buddy… _he thought. _And let's just hope that Blue and Silver don't get too close to anyone else so that this doesn't ever happen again._

_And that maybe they fall into the same depths as the Mask of Ice._

* * *

**Aaaaaaaaand…it's done!**

**Man. I honestly think that writing the motive was the hardest thing to do. Did it seem reasonable enough? I don't know. :/**

**But I can't believe I actually finished another multi-chapter story! I HAVEN'T FINISHED ONE IN OVER A YEAR, AND THOSE STORIES WERE ALREADY COMPLETELY WRITTEN OUT I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF GUYS.**

**So I think the story developed pretty well. The only inconsistency that I can think of were the butlers (I missed a detail and couldn't find a way to fix it…), but I was able to answer just about every question so I'm proud.**

**I was originally planning on waiting until Silver's birthday to post the last chapter, but that was too far away. Oh well.**

**So…thank you guys so much for the reviews! You guys had some really good guesses and I did my best to make sure that Yellow, White, Wally, Gold and whoever else seemed like good enough suspects so as not to seriously make it obvious who the killers were. A lot of you suspected Silver and Blue, but many were awfully confused as to how it could work. I was honestly surprised. I was also surprised by how popular this was. So thanks again for all of the support! :O**

**As for doing another horror story like this again…eh, I have so many other story ideas I want to explore with, but who knows? Maybe someday I'll do something like this again. :)**

**If you didn't get enough of the horror (and possibly critical thinking), I do have a few other Pokémon horror stories. _I Dare You to Venture Through the Old Chateau_, _Mine_ and _Life is Not a Shojo Manga _are one-shots, each a different canon. But _Pokémon Chronicles Version: Generation Creepypasta _is my attempt at writing multi-chapter Creepypasta, and I have to say that story is doing quite well, too. Plus it's very interesting for me to write, I really recommend you check it out so I can change your views on the Gameverse. ;D**

**So I can't believe this is really over! It's been fun (definitely not killing everyone off, but you get the point!)! Thanks a lot and hope to see you again! :D**

**~Midori**


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